The plot thickens... National Trust set to hit allotments target

The allotments have been created in 26 new growing spaces in restored kitchen gardens, farmland and vacant land close to trust properties in the first 12 months of the three-year campaign.

And the trust aims to establish 500 further allotments this year, at stately homes, estates and land including Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire, and Lytes Cary Manor, Somerset, once home to medieval herbalist Henry Lyte.

The 300 plots are part of the organisation's attempt to get schools, communities and families growing more of their own fruit and vegetables and get back in touch with the environment.

The new growing spaces range from a community garden at Minnowburn in Northern Ireland to land at the Gibside estate in Northumberland where 30 plots are being used by mental health charities, four schools, a rehabilitation service and a homeless shelter.

A patchwork of small market gardens near Porthcurno, Cornwall, which fell out of use after the Second World War and became overgrown, have been given a new lease of life as allotments and two hectares of land at Wembury, Devon, has been set aside for 40 plots for local people to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

The allotments created last year could produce up to around 850,000 lettuces a year or 16,000 sacks of potatoes, the National Trust estimates.

With many more people wanting land for growing food during the recession, there is now a 100,000-strong waiting list for allotments around the country.

But the number of available plots has fallen dramatically since the Second World War, when there were 1.4 million allotments in the UK.

By the 1970s, at the height of "The Good Life" era, there were around half a million allotments; now there are only 300,000.

The National Trust scheme is working with the Landshare website, set up by celebrity chef and broadcaster Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which acts as a "match-making" database to link up would-be growers with available land.

National Trust local food co-ordinator Jenny Sansom said the campaign had captured the imagination of thousands of people.

"There is a real mix of people involved, with experienced gardeners and novices sharing information.

"There is a real community spirit at each of the sites and people have definitely enjoyed the fruits of their labour.

"More and more of our properties are getting involved with the campaign and we are anticipating 500 new allotments will be established during 2010 to include sites at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge and Lytes Cary in Somerset," she said.

Allotment-holders have grown vegetables including artichokes, carrots, peas, beans and salad, as well as herbs and flowers.