Allotment
This work-in-progress series is based on portraits taken at my family's allotment, which we acquired in 2021, having spent 8 years on a waiting list. It’s become a space that has provided us with the chance to connect with nature; a hidden green oasis in the very urban setting of South East London.
The allotment and the woods next to them have become a valuable resource for many local people to access green spaces. The woods are what remains of ‘The Great North Wood’, which dates back to medieval times, and are now looked after by London Wildlife Trust. There is also a large golf club and school playing fields straddling this land, which are privately owned property. Only 8% of land in England is public land with the right to roam, and this imbalance is certainly apparent in my local area, where much of our green spaces are owned by The Dulwich Estate. Even land that we are allowed to walk on, such as the woods, is not being accessed by some local communities due to their socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This unfair disconnection with nature is something that London Wildlife Trust is working on to improve, alongside conservation and renewal.
“ It is a critical time for people to access and understand our green spaces due to the dislocation many feel from nature and the impending threats of climate change and species loss. Sydenham Hill Wood is one of the most important green spaces in London for the story it can tell about human impacts on the land, challenging our concepts of what is natural and normal. It has seen it all, surviving through all that our species has thrown at it in over 10,000 years of human history. It bears those scars but its wildness remains.” From the ice age to the Crystal Palace: a micro-history of London’s Great North Wood, written in 2019 by Daniel Greenwood
This project poses more questions than answers about who has access to green spaces in both cities and indeed the whole country, and what effect this is having on our health and well-being? Can any of us claim to actually own land? Are we not all custodians of the land, whose job it is to nurture and care for it, so that both we, and future generations can benefit from it?