This morning, 17 lucky year 3 children visited the Greenhill Close Allotments in Loughton and managed to answer these questions and more! The children visited a small orchard and looked at the difference between tiny plums, pears and apples (plums are slightly furry even when so small). One child promised “I’ll come back!” to see the trees in their full glory in the autumn.

We planted and watered peas, red carrot and radish seeds as well as transplanting parsley seedlings into a bed under the patient eye of some kind allotment volunteers. The dug-up potatoes and small grapes proved particularly popular. Violet thought that it was important to encourage bees onto the allotment because “Bees pollinate the flowers and turn it into honey!” ,whilst the ladybirds, snails and worms were fascinating to our budding gardeners.

Later, back at school, we discussed how important it is for us to understand where our food comes from and to produce fruit and vegetables without chemicals.

A huge thank you to Mrs McPherson, Mrs Read and Mr Brown from school for taking the children and also to Paula, Parish Clerk to Loughton and Great Holm Parish Council and the wonderful Allotment volunteers, who made our visit so engaging!