I love lavender, we have lots in the garden and July is one of my favoyrite months when it all comes into bloom. We took a trip out at weekend to our local lavender farm, Hitchin Lavender, which is at Cadwell Farm, Ickleford, near Hitchin.
There are over 12 acres of rows and rows of lavender of all different varieties. It is a lavender lover's paradise! You are able to walk amongst the miles of lavender rows and cut your own lavender, enough to fill a good medium size paper carry bag, to take home and this is included with the entrance fee. That was a nice surprise, I hadn't realised you could do this.
As you can see it is a perfect place if like me, you enjoy taking a photo or two and I was kept quite busy as we waded through some of the lavender rows both with picking lavender to fill our two bags and taking a shot or two.
As we wondered up the lavender slopes, there were some fantastic views across the lavender to the countryside and beyond. Every now and then there would be a little spark of colour where other wild flowers mingled amongst the blues of the lavender.
As soon as you start walking through the lavender rows, you can hear they are a haven for wildlife. The sound of humming bees is loud and there were plenty of butterfles hovering around and enjoying the lavender too.
The Victorians grew lavender in Hitchin and it was grown around this area for a few hundred years before that. Caldwell farm reintroduced lavender to Hitchin in 2000 and also has a 17th century barn in which dried lavender is stored. The farm offers a shop selling a range of lavender related gifts and also has a cafe serving light lunches, teas and cakes. There is also a nursery garden selling lavender and sunflower plants. We enjoyed a relaxing cup of tea before we set off to look around. There are lovely seating areas both inside and outside the barn.
As we walked up to the top of the lavender field, there were stunning views, wheatfields at the top and far reaching country views all around. All our lavender picked we made our descent and passed a big area planted with sunflowers. They weren't quite blooming yet, but I imagine they are going to look really fabulous when they do.
We passed different varieties of lavender as we carried on and at the bottom of the field I noticed a small wildflower meadow. There were two actually, one just finishing, which looked as though it had been stunning and another just out in full bloom. Very beautiful. I must remind myself to come earlier in the season next time.
We made our way past some old and interesting farm machinery and buildings on our way back to the barn and enjoyed lunch and a look around the gift shop. There was an array of lavender gifts and I managed to buy a few presents for friends while we were there. All in all we had a great day out and had some nice things to bring home with us, not the least two bags brimming full of lavender. Watch this space on ideas what to do next with it...
I've made a note to myself that if I'm in the Hitchin vicinity and needing a refreshing cup of tea or lunch during August, I must pop back to see what those sunflowers are getting up to! Thinking of that I'm inspired to have some sunflowers growing in my own garden now too and I now know just the place to get some!
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