The Allotment : Little Toller Books : 9781915068231 : 1915068231 : 15 May 2023 : 'The Allotment is not just a history of guinea gardens and pigeon sheds and Dig for Victory, but of the social and historical conditions out of which the allotment arose and inside which it stubbornly persists.' - Olivia Laing Allotments are sanctuaries for growing, often on the fringes of suburbia, where life is getting ever more stressful and expensive. Here, a simple urge to grow-your-own or become self-sufficient, brings us closer to a community of people, wildlife and plants that are often more diverse than the cities and towns that surround them. An allotment is a utopia. It is a green place where anyone can occupy a piece of land, and grow with freedom of expression. Allotmenteering started with The Diggers in seventeenth-century Surrey, in response to the Enclosure Acts which deprived ordinary people of access to land. But the idea spread, first across England and the British Isles, then through