The thing is I have had people say to me that mine is far too expensive at £85.00 a year and there is no way they would pay that, but they are more than happy to pay £60.00 for one round of golf, or £30 - £50 pound for a night out on the drink.
I agree. Following your football team around is VERY expensive, golf is certainly expensive. And there are many other hobbies, even those that are theraputic and those that are supposedly good for you (gym memberships comes to mind), that are FAR more expensive than these costs. Even buying lovely containers for stuff at garden centres, containers we don't actually need but would like to have on a whim, is expensive. Yet as with any hobby, we don't HAVE to do it - we WANT to. And if there is a price for that desire then so be it.
A friend of mine has an allotment and pays £120 a year and moans about that cost a lot. Yet he is a smoker and easily spends more than that per month on cigarettes. He could cut down smoking even a bit and redress the balance.......hmm.
Ok it might bring out the "Daily Mail outrage" sentiment in all of us, especially for those of us on "established" allotments where we are spoilt somewhat that our annual fees are not that much in comparison. But if the higher prices at these garden centre allotments discourage the sort of person who wimps out when there is a spot of rain and lets it go untended for months on end, then so be it. Or, rather, encourages them to stick at it when they have paid their fee (or uses this as a temporary measure and puts their name down on a "standard" allotment waiting list once they have proved to themselves they can stick at it and enjoy it) then great.
I used to easily spend over £50 a month on veg from the supermarket (much more when I used local greengrocers and farm shops) yet even with overheads on the allotment, plus tools, seeds etc and even if I had one of these garden centre allotments, it would be economically much more viable. Not to mention the fun obtained from growing, and the taste benefits from home-grown produce.