Quintain Living residents get green-fingered this National Allotments Week

August 9-15 is National Allotments Week in the UK, but across the capital, Londoners are waiting years for the opportunity to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Imperial College London reports that the average wait for an allotment in the capital is now four to five years, with an estimated 30,000 people on waiting lists.

Given all this, being able to hire allotments at Canada Gardens is a major coup for Quintain Living residents. Canada Gardens has been designed to provide a taste of urban country living in the heart of London’s vibrant Wembley Park neighbourhood. Residents have an acre of gardens to enjoy, including barbecues and outdoor dining areas and a spacious clubhouse that serves as a central hub for socialising or simply for stopping off for a coffee and five minutes’ peace.

They also have 16 hireable allotment planters, along with a greenhouse and a shed for storing tools, pots, seeds and the like. There’s information in the shed on planting seasons, while Wembley Park’s Estate Landscape Manager is on hand to share advice on what to grow, when and how best to help it thrive.

Meanwhile, plans are in place to form an allotment group on the popular Quintain Living resident app, to support those using the allotments to make friends with whom to share growing tips and to help water each other’s plants over holiday periods.

“Connecting with nature through growing food brings a whole host of physical and mental benefits. Yet the desire to grow food is one that can be tough to achieve in London – our own Resident Manager is currently on a three-year waiting list for an allotment, which is hardly uncommon for the capital. We are thrilled that at our Canada Gardens apartments, residents have the opportunity to hire allotment beds to grow their own produce.”

Danielle Bayless, Chief Operating Officer, Quintain Living

Data specialists dunnhumby Beyond revealed that 57% of one-person households and 58% of two-person households wanted to grow more of their own food in 2020. The pandemic has fuelled interest in gardening and growing food like never before. During the first lockdown, the National Allotment Society (NAS) reported a 45% increase in the number of requests for information through its website, while web views of Royal Horticultural Society advice pages shot up by 50% in April 2020. The UK public’s insatiable appetite for growing their own food has continued ever since.

Yet one in five people in London has no access to a garden, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figure emphasises the value of being able to hire your own on-site allotment at Canada Gardens. The benefits of doing so support positive mental health at a time when this is particularly important. A study by the University of Sheffield found that allotment gardening delivered the social benefits of feeling part of a community. All while outdoors and socially distanced. The mental health benefits of connecting with nature and spending time outside are also well established.

Allotment gardening provides physical health benefits too, and not just from the exertion involved in the gardening work itself. The University of Sheffield study found that people who have allotments are more likely to eat their five-a-day than people who don’t grow their own food.

Canada Gardens is run by award-winning management company Quintain Living, which oversees the rental of more than 3,000 Wembley Park apartments. Residents can hire their allotment bed for £10 or £20 per month, depending on its size.

Hireable allotments are just one of the myriad of benefits of living at Canada Gardens. Residents of the stylish, contemporary apartments, which range in size from studios to three bedrooms, have access to an enormous roof terrace that provides incredible 360° views of the City, the Chilterns and the iconic Wembley Stadium arch, as well as a pirate ship themed children’s play area and indoor playroom. There’s a pet park for furry residents and a study, library and designer work-from-home sheds for those who work remotely. A new, seven-acre park will open on the doorstep of the development later this year.

“Canada Gardens has been designed to ensure that residents love their homes, both inside and out. The interiors have been co-designed by Fossey Arora together with John Lewis & Partners and Samsung to achieve the perfect blend of style and homeliness. The amenities and social spaces have been shaped around our extensive experience at Wembley Park and feedback from those who have been living here over the past five years. Canada Gardens’ allotments are the natural next step for us in ensuring we meet the needs of all or our residents and evolve with them as those needs change.”

Danielle Bayless, Chief Operating Officer, Quintain Living

For more information on Quintain Living or to book a viewing, visitwww.quintainliving.com, @quintainliving on Instagram or call 020 3151 1927.

*Source: dunnhumby Beyond research

** Source: Imperial College London