WEYMOUTH Town Council has embraced National Allotments Week and showcased some of the produce grown on local sites.

Allotments Week ran between Monday, August 8 and Sunday, August 14 with plot holders at the town council’s latest allotment showing off their crops.

Southdown Farm, in Preston, opened to local residents as an allotment in March this year with tenants already boasting a bumper crop.

Yellow courgettes, pumpkins, sweetcorn, beetroot, cucumbers and tomatoes are among the fruit and veg

The seven plots, off Pinemoor Close, were handed over to Weymouth Town Council from Dorset Council earlier this year.

Since then, they have been taken care of by the new tenants and, the Mayor of Weymouth, Councillor Ann Weaving, said the area is already beginning to look well-established.

She said: “It’s a few months since we took ownership of the plots in Preston, and as it’s National Allotments Week we wanted to extend a warm welcome to our latest community of allotment holders who have grown so much produce already!

“It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the range of allotments we have across Weymouth. Not only do they provide benefits to residents who grow fruit and vegetables on their plots, but gardening with nature in mind also creates rich habitats which can help to support our bees and insects.”

Gail, a ‘tenant’ at Southdown Farm, said: “I love to grow things; it makes me feel closer to nature and understand nature more and it’s very peaceful.

“It’s like a dance with butterflies trying to protect your crop from cabbage whites. The bees also love Southdown Farm; before the site opened, they didn’t have anything to enjoy, but now they have flowers and love the runner bean plants.”

“It’s great that everyone on the site lives within walking distance so there is no need to drive a car. We get to talk to one another whilst gardening so it’s far more sociable than gardening at home. We also like to share tips and swap seeds so there’s a lovely community feel to the site,” added Lucy, also a tenant at Southdown Farm.