TOBY CARVERY SELECTS ITS TOP OF THE CROPS
01 March 2008
2007 saw the launch of Toby Carvery’s inaugural search to find the UK’s most abundant allotment. Entries were invited from prolific gardeners and green-thumbed growers from Perth to Penzance in a bid to find the cream of the country’s crop.
Now, the search is over and the identity of the competition’s five regional winners can finally be revealed.
Joint winners of the Midlands accolade were retired couple Allan and Alma Kimber from Penn in Wolverhampton. The Kimbers are both avid gardeners and regularly raffle off their vegetables and donate the proceeds to local Wolverhampton charities.
Walking away with the Yorkshire and North East region prize was 81 year old Jim Jones from Dronfield, who has been gardening his patch at Coal Aston allotments and growing for the table for many years.
Winner for the South East region was Barry Sharp from Brighton, whose award-winning veg have also won him the Coronation Bowl prize three years in a row.
Mean while, Peter Wilson from Middlesex picked up the Greater London prize. Over the course of the year, Mr Wilson grew all the usual full range of vegetables on his patch including brussel sprouts, carrots, spring onions, sweetcorn and cabbages plus some ten varieties of fruit.
Last but certainly not least, Noel Croft and his partner Fiona Mitchell from Hunt’s Cross in Liverpool won the competition’s North West region. Over the course of the year, Noel and Fiona managed to grow a staggering 61 varieties of fruit and veg on their patch, including asparagus, beetroot, red cabbage, courgettes and even celeriac.
Entries were assessed on everything from the range and variety of vegetables grown right through to size and amount. As well as walking away with the top prize for their regions, the winners were also presented with £100 worth of Toby Carvery vouchers to spend at their local carvery.
Sheelagh Pegg, Operations Director at Toby Carvery said: “This is the first year we’ve run the Most Abundant Allotment competition and it’s been a huge success. The competition itself is very much in keeping with the Toby Carvery ethos – we are all about delicious, fresh food and plenty of it!
"We hope all of our winners will come and pay us a visit – at Toby Carvery we pride ourselves on serving up only the freshest, best quality veg so it should hopefully meet with their high standards."
The award entries were judged by a team of experts from the National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners (NSALG), who individually visited each shortlisted allotment in person before making their decision. David Morris from the Wirral was on the panel. He said: “We didn’t start the judging until September, so to have such abundant allotments at this late stage in the season is very impressive indeed.
"We gardeners have also had one of the rainiest summers on record to contend with so, all in all, our winners have done a sterling job. Congratulations to all on their fantastic entries and superb allotments."