Last month I posted about allotment huts in Hamburg and here are some even larger allotment sites from Geneva in Switzerland. They have more uniformity as most of the buildings are neat and tidy log cabins arranged along straight paths and roadways, but they do seem to be built by the owners so there is some variety too. Again they are social as well as gardening spaces, and have verandas, outdoor seating, barbeques, and even pizza ovens which testify to their purpose as places for families and groups of friends to go in the long summer.
I took this first set of pictures at Les Jardins Familiaux des Villars in a northwest suburb of the city, which is one of the larger allotment sites. As you can see, it presents a sea of chalet roofs:
More pictures from the same site:
There are a couple of dozen sites in the city and its suburbs, and the remaining pictures are from a new one, Les Jardians Familiaux de Champ Bossu, where chalets are still being built this summer:
One plot, showing the concrete base supplied by the site management, the water standpipe to the left and the start of this person’s efforts to cultivate a garden:
Two chalets being built, including pink jablite-style foam insulation sheeting under the floor:
Finally, the process of nailing the available planking boards to the walls of the chalet itself, the storage shed at the back and the covered veranda at the front and cutting them to length in situ:
The style of these chalets is strongly influenced by the traditional Swiss alpine chalet, and there’s a good example in the Jardin Alpin park in the city:
