I live in Norfolk with
my husband Pat
and am just an
ordinary lady who
decided to grow
vegetables on my
'own' allotment.
I jumped in at the
deep end and took
on a quarter of an
acre strip that was
in dire need of being
tamed. Dock,
Thistles, Horseradish

John Vears from Surrey in the UK .
Actively retired and enjoying life!

I love the challenges that life has given me.I want to keep active and I'm not at the 'pipe and slippers' bit yet !

Just around the corner I have two allotments where I try to work off my flab and grow  healthy vegetables without those yummy pesticides beloved by the supermarkets.

Soon I'll be keeping chickens on the plot having convinced the council this will not be the downfall of society as we know it!

I'm John Harrison and we live near Nantwich, Cheshire

'allotment lady'  from Norfolk writes

I enjoy power walking with a friend of mine (Anne's better than me and does charity walks inc. 'The London Moonwalk' +26 miles in 7hrs 40min).
 I'm also enjoying an 'Improvers Course' in swimming and as the photos show, I'm into Paint Balling and White River Rafting !
I also do two afternoons a week voluntary work at the local hospital.
Anne, some friends and myself  have entered the ballot for 'The Great North Run' next year in Newcastle.

I welcome any comments, hints, and tips so please feel free to leave them.
I have lots of hobbies which will appear on my blogspot over the winter when not much will be happening up the lottie, and anything else of interest including some of my recipes as I enjoy cooking.

Left - Clearing up when we took over and below, getting under way.  Click for full size


and every known weed you can imagine, plus
the usual rubbish and
piles of carpet through which the weeds had grown.
You can follow my progress at http://kooringa.blogspot.com

Sarah
 My name is Sarah and I have been visiting Down the Lane for a couple of years now. It inspired me to have a go at creating my own web site, mainly as a diary for myself but also I guessed people may be curious to read about me, as I am curious to read about everyone else.

My name is
Melanie Rimmer and my family is aiming to move to a
smallholding in about 4 years' time. In the meantime we are saving our
money and learning the skills needed to be more self-sufficient. For
example, we have an allotment where we are growing fruit and veg, and we
have two chickens which live in our back garden. "Down The

Lane" is a
really useful resource of tips for saving money as well as
self-sufficiency.
We are recording our proress in our blog at
www.bean-sprouts.blogspot.com
and love it when people leave comments

My allotment can be seen at http://www.allotment.org.uk

Andy and Matt teamed up to get an Allotment together in Tyldesley near Manchester and with their families, set about transforming barren land into a real little Farm. The photo shows the Chicken Coop under construction

Their great blog can be seen at 
                                    http://bonnielad.googlepages.com/home

Wendy is from Bushey in Hertfordshire and has been a Canine Behaviour expert and Trainer for over 30 years.
At home she keeps Chickens and you can see her wonderful Coop building skills here on Down the Lane
See Wendy's website at
http://www.busheyk9.com

If you would like to include yourself in this page, please send details, a photo or two and link to a Website or Blog (if you have one, not necessasry) to downthelane@dsl.pipex.com.

Also, if you would like to contribute an Article to Down the Lane (say 400 - 700 words), pleasedo the same as above.
By including a link to your website, this would help your site in climbing the Search Engines.
Many thanks, Richard