FORGET treadmills and exercise bikes – owning an allotment has to be the ultimate workout.

Far better than sweating indoors in the competitive arena of the gym, an allotment offers an alfresco alternative that is cheaper (thirty-odd quid a year as opposed to £300 or more) and there’s not a speck of Lycra in sight.

You can cover up in your oldest, baggiest clothes (a sort of shabby chic with mud) and work out in the great outdoors.

Instead of pulsating dance music and mind numbing pop videos, there’s birdsong and wildlife to marvel at. (I do my best to ignore the rats which are a necessary evil and unnervingly large.

Instead I focus on the lovely foxes that criss-cross between the plots as the sun goes down and the swallows that swoop overhead.) Of course it’s not all Pollyanna down on the plot – and if I overdo it, which is easy to do, I know I will pay the price.

There’s nothing quite like the back- ache you get after an afternoon of digging – it’s muscular pain so sharp it feels like a couple of vertebrae have fused.

But a leisurely soak in the bath ensures that all is soon fine and I no longer feel like a decrepit old granny.

Tony Legg, 63, from Bitterne had to give up work due to serious health problems and having an allotment has quite literally been a lifesaver for him. He walks to and from his plot in Weston, Southampton, spends a few hours digging and pottering – and then gets to eat good fresh veg that he has grown.

“I was in hospital for three months and on the intensive care unit for 14 days. This is the best exercise I can get and I get to eat some great veg too,” he said.

Fellow allotment holder Tony Brown, 68, from Sholing spends most mornings on his plot and it has helped him overcome heart problems.

“I’m more or less self sufficient now and eat good food that is seasonal. The stuff you grow is ten times better than what you get in a supermarket,” he said.

Both agree that the only way to tackle an allotment is to invest plenty of time and do a bit at a time.

If you try to get it all planted at once, it’s easy to get disheartened because it is such hard work but by dividing the plot you can cultivate it in more manageable sections.

Allotment officer Sue Ashdown explained many people are now creating beds on their plots edged with bits of wood rather than digging the whole area.

“It’s become a popular way of working a plot – and is something that has developed in recent years,” she said.

Next Time: Find out how seed catalogues have replaced glossy mags as my favourite reading matter.

If you would like to feature in the allotment column email kate.thompson@dailyecho.co.uk n See next Friday’s column for news around the allotments.