clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk 
The current grow-your-own trend has sparked a new wave of interest in allotment owning. But before you get swept up in the trend, the BBC's Paul Reynolds has some words of warning.
Let's get one thing straight - the Queen does not have an allotment.
An allotment is a piece of land you till and toil over yourself. You do not get your gardener or under-gardener to do it for you.
What the Queen has is an old-fashioned kitchen garden. All country houses used to have one. Buckingham Palace has such huge grounds that it almost qualifies as a country house and now it has a kitchen garden. It is an admirable thing to have.
But it is not an allotment. The Palace spin doctors, who recently unveiled the garden, have scored one over the media on this.
