WITH spring just around the corner, more people are turning their hand to digging in an allotment.

Middlesbrough Council is experiencing a mini boom in demand for allotment plots, and is recycling previously derelict areas to meet the demand.

Staff have brought back into use ten plots at the Beechwood allotment site, and such is the demand they will start work shortly on another ten.

Another seven plots, which are roughly one sixteenth of an acre, are also being created at the Town Farm and Whitehouse sites.

Geoff Edwards, community gardening officer, said: "The land hadn't been cultivated for more than ten years, so it was overgrown with weeds and brambles - it was a big job getting it back into shape. But it is good to see this level of interest."

Councillor Bob Kerr, executive member for the environment, said: "Allotments are a source of great pride and pleasure to a lot of people, and provide one of the cheapest and most enjoyable ways of keeping fit."