People travelling in Milford between the former Holy Trinity Church on Hopping Hill and the Children’s Play Area on the A6 will have recently noticed a considerable opening up of this area, part of Bridge View Allotments ongoing campaign to bring former abandoned allotments back into productive use. Details of how this has been achieved follow.
A Work Party of volunteers gathered on the 14th March 2026 to clear the allotment on the A6 next to the former Holy Trinity Church and the very large one above it, adjacent to The Greenspace. The volunteers faced a forest of brambles, nettles and ivy, but set about clearing it with gusto, and by the end of the day had made a big difference. They also moved masses of household junk from the site.
Volunteers clearing brambles, nettles and ivy
Much ivy was cleared from the beautiful retaining walls above each of the allotments
Once the area was cleared, digging of the upper allotment started.
By the end of the day the clearance was very obvious the A6 – you could see right up to the back wall of the top allotment for the first time in years.
Newly opened up view of the allotments from the A6
Meanwhile, further south along the allotments on the A6, equally impressive clearance had taken place the week before, this time of trees. The area just north of the Children’s Play Area where the public footpath climbs up from the A6, appeared to be wooded, but was in fact allotments abandoned for so long they had become covered in trees. Unfortunately most of the trees were ash, and all had succumbed to Ash Die-Back. One tree had fallen over and was being propped up by one of the lamp posts on the A6! In consequence The Strutt Estate (current owners of the allotment land) and Bridge View Allotments Ltd (the co-op of current allotment holders, soon to be owners of the allotment land) jointly paid for local tree surgeon Jonathan Beard to clear the area of trees. Jonathan took advantage of the closure of the A6 for other tree work (see here for more detail) to do just that.
Jonathan’s team hard at work
The result of the clearance is impressive, and adds to the openness of the entire A6 frontage of the allotments. This will also let considerably more light into the existing worked allotments on the A6. The new area cleared of trees will be used for a mixture of allotments and woodland wildflower meadow.
