Last month the walking group of my WI met down by the river for a walk led by Hazel around the allotments of Otley. It was a hot sunny day and we discovered parts of Otley many of us never knew existed! She led us along old lanes, footpaths, ginnels and snickets.

I’m not sure how widespread the idea of allotments is, so here’s a brief overview; Allotments are on council owned land and can be rented out for a small annual rent (about £30 round here) for growing fruit and vegetables (or flowers!) the idea I think is that one allotment is sufficient to provide for a family. These days many people just have half a plot as a full one is a lot of work, they have to be well maintained or you will lose it. There is a long waiting list for an allotment (about 4 years round here) and also a lot of pressure on councils not to sell them off for building.

We started off by the Archimedes Screw, an amazing piece of engineering which is now part of our flood defenses, it’s only recently been built. An Archimeian Screw is an ancient piece of engineering attributed to Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BC) which can draw water upwards in times of flooding, it moves very slowly apparently so it is considered wildlife friendly. It will be interesting to see it in action.

We walked along the riverbank, the River Wharfe runs through the middle of Otley…

…to Gallows Hill nature reserve, passing a few allotments along the way. 

There are quite a few allotments in Otley, all beautifully kept. There’s about a 4 year waiting list to get one, you can grow vegetables and fruit…

…or just cutting flowers…

Loved these sunflowers…

As we walked through Otley we called in to a cafe for a well earned ice-cream, we were all looking a bit pink!

After our ice-cream we set off again, walking past the Otley mosiac…

…through Tittybottle Park to the end of our walk. I love that Otley has retained this park’s old name and not bowed to pressure from the PC brigade! The land was apparently acquired by the council in 1909 to make a park which quickly became popular with mothers and  babies, hence the name!

After twenty years of wrangling Leeds City Council finally gave permission to have boats on the river again at Otley this year. It’s great to see them back again, you can just make them out on the bank by the park opposite.

It’s lovely to have a walk around your own town sometimes, how ever long you’ve lived there there’s usually something new to see, we all have our regular routes through town and a walk like this makes you notice different places.