I am proud to be a member of the Garden Media Guild.
The guild has recently invited me to write a series of allotment facts and figures articles for the Garden Media Guild members’ magazine.
This page will contain the academic reference list for my Garden Media Guild articles after they are published, for use by guild members.
If you are a guild member and you would like to connect and collaborate I would love to hear from you, please use the Contact Form.
GMG article March 2025
These are the references for the GMG article “Just how many allotments are there in the UK?”
Acknowledgement: Thank you to Ordnance Survey for providing data on the numbers of allotments.
Dobson, M.C., Edmondson, J.L., & Warren, P.H. (2020) Urban food cultivation in the United Kingdom: Quantifying loss of allotment land and identifying potential for restoration, in Landscape and Urban Planning, 199, 103803.
Horticultural Sector Committee, Sowing the seeds: A blooming English horticultural sector (HL, 2023, Paper 268) para 583.
Department for Communities and Local Government (2006) Survey of Allotments, Community Gardens and City Farms. London: HMSO.
Horticultural Sector Committee, Sowing the seeds: A blooming English horticultural sector (HL, 2023, Paper 268) para 854.
Ordnance Survey (2025) “Open Green Space” dataset. Available at: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/os-open-greenspace
Ordnance Survey (2025) Email correspondence to Dr Deborah Burn.10/1/2025.
Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (2025) Full list of successful bids from the Community Ownership Fund. Accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/community-ownership-fund-first-round-successful-bidders#successful-bids [19/1/25].
Makortoff, K. (2024) State-funded UK scheme to save beloved community sites will close early. The Guardian. 24/12/24 (online). Accessed at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/23/state-funded-uk-scheme-save-community-sites-close-early [19/1/25].
Rochdale Online (2023) Plotting for the future as new largest allotment site opens. Online. Access via https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/154559/plotting-for-the-future-as-new-largest-allotment-site-opens [Accessed 19/1/25].
GMG article June 2025
These are the references for the article “Are allotments good for our health?”
Burn, D. (2017) The social world of allotments gardens: an ethnographic account of formations of social cooperation. Unpublished PhD thesis, Newcastle University, UK.
Carly J. Wood, Jules Pretty, Murray Griffin, A case–control study of the health and well-being benefits of allotment gardening, Journal of Public Health, Volume 38, Issue 3, 17 September 2016, Pages e336–e344, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdv146
Furlong, R. Harvey, C. Holland, F., Hallam, J. (2025) “I came here and it flows”: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of low-income residents’ experiences with allotment gardening, Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 104, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2024.128646.
Hawkins, J.L., Thirlaway, K.J., Backx, K. and Clayton, D.A., 2011. Allotment gardening and other leisure activities for stress reduction and healthy aging. HortTechnology, 21(5), pp.577-585.
Horticultural Sector Committee, Sowing the seeds: A blooming English horticultural sector (HL, 2023, Paper 268)
Gulyas, B. Z., & Edmondson, J. L. (2024). The contribution of household fruit and vegetable growing to fruit and vegetable self-sufficiency and consumption. Plants, People, Planet, 6(1), 162–173. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10413
Mayor, J. & Ripoll, S.(2021) An Outline Business Case for Allotments in Brighton & Hove. Brighton and Hove Allotments Federation. Available at https://www.bhaf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Value-of-Benefits-Allotments-bring-to-Brighton-and-Hove-City-Council-March2022.pdf [Accessed 29/5/25]
Soga, M.; Cox, D.T.C.; Yamaura, Y.; Gaston, K.J.; Kurisu, K.; Hanaki, K. Health Benefits of Urban Allotment Gardening: Improved Physical and Psychological Well-Being and Social Integration. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 71. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010071]
Swami, V. (2020) Body Image Benefits of Allotment Gardening Ecopsychology 12:1, 19-23
van den Berg, A.E., van Winsum-Westra, M., de Vries, S. et al. Allotment gardening and health: a comparative survey among allotment gardeners and their neighbors without an allotment. Environ Health 9, 74 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-9-74
Zick CD, Smith KR, Kowaleski-Jones L, Uno C, Merrill BJ. (2013) Harvesting more than vegetables: the potential weight control benefits of community gardening. Am J Public Health. 103(6):1110-5. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301009.