Allotments and Community Gardens in and around Newcastle City Centre

Let's be honest from the start: the middle of Newcastle has no allotments. NE1 is offices, shops, flats and Victorian streets, and the nearest plots sit on the fringe, in the Ouseburn Valley, up towards Jesmond Vale, and out to the west in Arthur's Hill and Elswick. If you live in a city-centre flat with no garden, though, you are not stuck. Several places within a short walk let you get your hands in the soil while you wait for a plot, and the council's application process is simple. This guide covers both, and it says plainly which places are just outside the centre.

Getting a council allotment

Allotments in Newcastle are run by Newcastle City Council. The council says it manages more than 60 allotment sites across the city, and most of them are run day to day by a local allotment association. Older guides often point to the Newcastle Allotment Working Group website, but the council's own form is now the route to use.

To join a waiting list, fill in the allotment application form on the council website, on its Parks, Play Spaces and Allotments pages. If you would rather talk to someone, call the main council number, 0191 278 7878, and ask for Parks and Allotments.

The council is upfront that waiting times differ in each part of the city and that it cannot say when a plot will come free. Since nobody can promise a date, it makes sense to apply early, and to name more than one site if the form allows it.

Best for: Best for: anyone who wants a plot of their own and can wait.

The nearest allotment sites to the centre

Going by the postcodes on the council's own list, these are the closest sites to NE1. None of them is actually in the city centre.

Stephen Street (Byker edge of the Ouseburn)

Stephen Street Allotment Association (NE6 1JX) sits on the Byker side of the lower Ouseburn Valley. It is the closest council allotment site to the Quayside and Manors. If you live on the east side of the centre, this is the one to put first on your form.

Best for: Best for: Quayside, Manors and east-end flat dwellers.

Chelmsford Grove and the Jesmond Vale sites (Ouseburn ward)

Head up the valley and there are several sites in the council's Ouseburn ward. Chelmsford Grove Allotment Association is at NE2 1NX. Premier, School House and Woodbine Terrace allotment associations all share the NE2 1PH postcode, a little further north towards Jesmond Vale. That makes this the biggest group of plots near the centre. They are an easy walk or cycle from Shieldfield and Sandyford, and a little further from Haymarket.

Best for: Best for: anyone in Shieldfield, Sandyford or the north-east corner of the centre.

Tweed Street and Gloucester Road (Arthur's Hill)

To the west, Tweed Street (NE4 6PT) and Gloucester Road (NE4 6PP) allotment associations are in the Arthur's Hill area, about twenty minutes' walk from the Central Station side of the centre.

Best for: Best for: residents on the west side of the centre, around Westgate Road and the station.

Community growing without a plot

Ouseburn Farm

Ouseburn Farm on Ouseburn Road is the closest proper growing space to the city centre, a short walk east of the Quayside. The farm's history goes back to 1976, when parents from Byker took over a piece of land on the site so their children could grow food, care for animals and get close to nature. Today it is a charity and a working community farm, free to enter, open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 3pm in term time and every day in the school summer holidays.

Its gardens are also used for learning. In the care farming programme, adults with learning disabilities or autism plant, tend and harvest the farm's allotment in an enclosed on-site garden, led by a horticulturalist. You can read more about the wider valley in our parks guide.

Best for: Best for: families and anyone who wants to see food growing a ten-minute walk from the Quayside.

Ouseburn Trust green space volunteering

The Ouseburn Trust, based on Lime Street, looks after much of the green space in the Ouseburn Valley: the riverbanks, woodland, meadows, scrub and planted beds, most of it on council-owned land. Its environment volunteers meet in small groups for drop-in sessions on Thursday afternoons (2pm to 3pm), Saturday mornings (10am to midday) and, from April to September, Tuesday evenings (6.30pm to 8pm). The work includes cutting back hedges, clearing paths and steps, and litter picking. Gloves and tools are provided. The Trust asks you to register on its volunteering page first, and that page also gives the meeting point.

The Trust is also building a community composting area in the Ouseburn woodland, working with Ouseburn Farm and Wild Roots Community Garden, another volunteer growing project in the valley. It is the nearest thing the centre has to a shared garden that anyone can join.

Best for: Best for: people who want regular outdoor work and good company without the commitment of a plot.

Elswick Park (west of the centre)

Elswick Park on Beech Grove Road is further out, west of the centre past Westgate Road, so it is wider central Newcastle rather than the fringe. It is worth knowing about, though. The park dates from 1881, on the grounds of the old Elswick Hall, and after a refurbishment in 2007 a community garden was created in 2009 and a community orchard was planted in 2011.

Best for: Best for: west-end residents who want an orchard and garden in their local park.

Tips for city-centre growers

• Apply for a council plot now, even if you are not sure. Being on the list costs nothing, and you can say no when a plot comes up.
• Be realistic about time. A full plot is a lot of work for someone who can only get there at weekends, so ask the association whether a smaller plot is an option when your turn comes.
• While you wait, start with herbs, salad and tomatoes in pots on a balcony or windowsill. Volunteering also teaches you a lot about what grows well in Tyneside's climate.
• If you have just moved into the centre, our council services guide covers everything else you will need from the council.

Know a community garden or growing project in or near Newcastle city centre that we should feature? Tell us via our contact page.