Meaningful Plots: Leisure, ‘Rational Recreation’ and the Politics of Gardening in British Allotments (Mid 19th -mid 20th Centuries)

If allotment gardening remained until recently a relatively under-researched aspect of leisure history, it has become, in the last few years, the object of considerably more detailed attention. The present paper attempts to present a synthesis of this work which has considerably enriched our understanding of this form of leisure. Not only does the history of allotment gardening in Great Britain challenge traditional dichotomies between work and leisure, but it also shows how gardening was embedded in a complex web of meanings and political relations. While allotments used to be described as a rather depoliticised and consensual form of recreation, recent historical work indeed shows that its effects were rather more complex and at times empowering than was assumed.