Derbyshire man celebrates growing 'giant' cabbage and encourages hobby as a ‘sanctuary’ during pandemic

Dominic Driscoll, 39, who works at Thornbridge Brewery, harvested the Cornish Heirloom cabbage at Wingerworth Allotments after waiting for more than a year for it to grow to its full size.

He had been hoping to take the 22.3kg cabbage, which was harvested alongside a number of other ones almost as big, to Wingerworth village produce show in a bid to win some awards in the largest cabbage category.

Unfortunately the village show was cancelled due to the pandemic, along with many others across the country.

However, Dominic has said that in spite of the lack of competitions, growing vegetables has proven an invaluable pastime during lockdown and the pandemic.

“Growing is a big passion of mine,” he said. “The allotment lifestyle is great fun. People do not moan about politics up there; they just talk about growing veg.

“There is such a nice community. There are 75 lots and and because you can keep a safe distance people can go up there who would not be allowed to go to supermarkets or pubs.

“Older people who need to shield are still able to go to their allotment and they can chat to people while keeping safe and can get some fresh air.

“People who have been on the verge of giving up have been given a new lease of life because of their allotments.

“Having an allotment is a very wholesome hobby and has proved to be a true place of sanctuary during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Dominic, who runs the shop at Wingerworth allotments, added: “I strongly recommend that anyone who doesn’t mind a bit of hard work and perseverance to apply for a plot with Chesterfield council or NEDDC.”

Wingerworth produce show was called off this year due to the pandemic. Organiser, Colin Berry, who with his wife Irene brought the show back in 2016 after 17 years, sadly died in December.

The Parish Council hopes to find a new organiser, and Dominic spoke of the importance of the shows to both allotment and village life.

“Growing is more popular than it has ever been,” he said. “During the lockdown there was a big rise in people buying seeds, and the shop did well as a lot of garden centres were closed.

“Not having the show this year was a disappointment. We still had hopes it could go ahead back in March and April.

"It is a concern as with a year off it could lose momentum as it usually generates a lot of excitement, but hopefully we can get it going again.”

Dominic added: “You grow these cabbages because they look fantastic and you want to win prizes.

“I knew about four months into growing this one that it was going to be big so I had been hoping to enter into local shows, but now I have just ended up with very large cabbages for eating!

“I have dropped some off at Chesterfield’s food bank and I will be using the rest to make sauerkraut and to put in stir fries.”