The allotments that vanish under the sea each day

News imagePHIL HARRISON/BBC A young man with dark hair and stubble stands on a coastal path in front of a pile of grey rocks, with a shingle beach and the sea behind him.PHIL HARRISON/BBC
Sam Taylor is from Cement Fields, the artists' group which came up with the intertidal allotments

Part of the Kent coast has been turned into an allotment which will disappear underneath the sea for several hours a day.

The scheme uses land which floods at high tide on the Isle of Sheppey, and has been created in a bid to improve food security and the environment.

It is being used to grow crops such as seaweed, kale, cabbage and beetroot.

The scheme is the brainchild of Cement Fields, a group of artists who hope to eventually hand the allotment over to local people to run.

Curator Sam Taylor told BBC Radio Kent: "The project doesn't exist without the community. It's the people who will tend to it, who will harvest it, who will eat from it.

"We're looking to increase the opportunity to engage with nature, change eating habits positively, address things like food insecurity and generally make a positive impact for people who live here.

"We want this to be a replicable model that people can take and create their own intertidal allotments."

News imagePHIL HARRISON/BBC A young man with dark hair and a beard wears a white t-shirt as he stands on a shingle beach close to the water.PHIL HARRISON/BBC
Andrew Merritt designed the intertidal allotments

The allotment was constructed by Andrew Merritt, who said the intertidal zone was a diverse area for plants and wildlife.

"The project is essentially about how we can rebuild that biodiversity and also provide food," he said.

News imagePHIL HARRISON/BBC A middle-aged woman with red hair wears a colourful turquoise sun dress decorated with a fish print design, along with a matching headscarf, as she sits on some grey rocks near the coastline.PHIL HARRISON/BBC
Chris Reed hopes to become one of the local people who take over the running of the allotments

Chris Reed is a local who wants to eventually be part of the group that takes over the project.

"There's been some fantastic events where there's been foraging and feasting which has involved a lot of the community" she said.

"There's a lot of people on board who are very keen to take it over and carry it into the future."

'World first' tidal allotment coming to Kent

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