"Christina Websell" wrote ...


"Bob Hobden" wrote

You may be interested that the full price of allotments in Runnymede BC
is £13.80 per sq Rod (Pole or Perch), effectively 5 metres by 5 metres.
And that is cheaper because we pay by DD. We also get a 50% reduction for
being old farts so for us it's "just" £6.75 a sq Rod.
At full price a standard 10 sq Rod allotment would be £138.00 per annum.
Water is available although no hoses are ever allowed, they don't do much
else for us except inspect every 3 months and write if they see an
uncultivated plot.
Those prices may change your mind about the financial consequences of
renting out bits although you may need parking/fencing/ and strict
inspections to throw off any useless gardeners.

I'm more concerned about having to pay for liability insurance than making
money from it, tbh. There is no parking, it is landlocked. It's very well
fenced now, only a bit had come down and it is now repaired with 6 ft
chainlink along the public footpath.


BTW the bees will need a 6ft high fence around the hives so they fly up
and away not into people.

The place I have in mind on the ground for the hives isn't near people, it
is at the bottom of everyone's garden who lives around it and at the
furthest point from the public footpath. Do you think that would still be
necessary, the nearby fences are quite high?
If you do think so, I can make that a condition that the beekeeper does it.
I asked my bro where he keeps his bees already and he said "he doesn't have
any yet - he's been on a beekeeping course and wants to keep bees."

I am up for encouraging that. He only lives a few houses away from the
paddock. When I wanted to keep goats, I had to find someone prepared to
rent me land to do it and so I will try and help him to keep bees, if
that's what he wants. The rent will be a few jars of honey a year and
occasional help with watering my veggies in a dry spell since he will be
there anyway.

However, I have not met him yet. I intend to discuss his plans this
weekend, first on the phone and then a visit. I am sure we will come to a
mutually acceptable situation.
It will not include him growing veggies there for now.

When one of the allotment holders on our site wanted to keep bees they had
to write to every plot holder and ask if they minded and if they were
allergic to the stings. They then insisted on the 6ft tall fence, fine
plastic mesh was used, so the bees flew straight up and over not near the
ground.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK