The allotments at Kingston Lacy

It's a bit of an older post today, as you can probably tell my the daffodils in the picture below, and on a bit of a grey day too, which was remarkably like yesterday. It was actually at the end of March - so slightly more excusable for being grey - and is part of our visit to Kingston Lacy while we had that earlier in the year Dorset adventure.  

It started looking normal enough just another plot but on the NT's Kingston Lacy

This was our second visit to Kingston Lacy, but the first time that we really explored the kitchen garden and beyond that, the allotments. I'll share more from the kitchen garden another day, but first to confirm the allotments at Kingston Lacy look very much like other allotments. And dare I say it, a little tidier and easy on the eye than our own site...

It was March there wasn't a lot of growing going on at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

It's reassuring though to see similar kit, similar approaches and check to see you're on the right track with our own plot. The compost bins, the ground covered in black plastic were all familiar and reassuring. And so too was this almost sculptural, and yet decaying, artichoke. Striking isn't it? 

Almost sculptural artichokes at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

Just when we thought it was a normal looking allotment, we spied the chicken wire man tending his plot. 

A chicken wire man at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

We admired him and his wooden reindeer-dog and thought it was probably a one off. That was until we saw the boy with his welly boot dog!

A boy and his welly dog at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

Both very different, both with dogs, and both quite un-allotment like, but fun. I'm guessing we stumbled upon the remnants of a "one man and his dog and an allotment" sculpture competition, and was very glad we did.

I'm not sure I'd be quite so resourceful over on our plot, currently my resourcefulness is focuses on practical matters, like growing stuff and preventing the foxes digging it up again, but definitely food for thought, when I've got the basics sorted!