Discover the experiences of six Caribbean gardeners of the Windrush generation and their legacy at Hungerhill Gardens in St Anns, Nottingham, England’s oldest and largest allotment site. Featuring interviews, photographs and a new poem by Carla Thompson.

Based on the book Caribbean Pioneer Gardeners by Colin Haynes, published by Five Leaves, includes material from an English Heritage Open Days exhibition in 2005/6.

The Windrush story of Caribbean migration to the United Kingdom was played out in our factories, our music, our streets and inner cities. In a little known aspect, migrants also worked on under-used allotment sites, including England’s largest and oldest, Hungerhill Gardens, now known as St Ann’s Allotments in Nottingham.

At Hungerhill Gardens, people who had been brought up on smallholdings in Jamaica found overgrown plots available for very low rents. They learned to grow crops they knew in our colder climate and, as they retired, they took on additional plots, producing large quantities of vegetables for their families and community. They built remarkable greenhouses and summer houses with scrap materials, and cultivated using traditional tools from their homeland. This book features the experiences of six Caribbean gardeners, told in their own words through interviews for English Heritage, illustrated with photographs of them and their gardens throughout the seasons.