Where do i get an allotment?

there is probably a thread on this somewhere, but i can't find it. So if i'm about to ask questions that have been answered elsewhere, forgive me and someone point me in the right direction.

I 'think' i want an allotment, how do i go about this, would need to be in s5 area. i like gardening and am sick of paying for what i know ii could grow myself, used to grow all my own when we lived in Kenya and Bangladesh, didn't now the names of most of the veg i grew there but we lived well on it.

So any advice would be gratefully received.

First place to look is on the Sheffield Council webpage: http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/out--about/parks-woodlands--countryside/allotments

This lists the allotements in your area (so that'd be Brushes, High Wincobank, Norwood, Shirecliffe and Stubbin), and there is a downloadable form listing ones with available plots. Then you can ring the allotment office to get a map of where they are. Once that's received, go take a walk around the sites and check them out: how many other plots are there? Is it fairly derelict or well-kept? How large are the plots? Is there water on site? Sun/no sun? And check out ones that look neglected and see if they have a building of some sort on them - it's possibly the best thing going on ours. If possible try catch a few allotmenteers to speak to - they will give you insight into what the soil is like, if there is an allotment office on site that hires stuff and sells seeds and also if there are issues with vandalism.

Then, register for whichever site you like with the allotment office, and don't forget to ask how long the waiting list is. In some parts of Sheffield, like Crookes, the wait is up to 4 years! However, we waited 6 months for our site in Crosspool and love every little bit of it! A word of warning though: you'll no doubt inherit an overgrown mess, so collect together as many hands as possible to get it cleared! You can rotivate, but that can often just redistribute the weeds even more.

Good luck and keep us posted!

ps: to see overgrown to cleared, look at our pics (not entirely up to date): http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramford-hale/sets/72157594245501793/

thanks so much zweena, really useful, will contact the relavent bods, don't mind waiting as quite a big thing to take on will need to plan etc. Love the pictures, actually i like the digging out, planning part, hard work but great satisfaction.