Lavender Time

Here I am again with another of our trips. I'm really enjoying these posts as they enable me to re-live happy days out - I very much hope you are enjoying them too. I wish we could have interactive scented blogs, as this one would be a prime candidate. You'll just have to imagine the smell ...

At this time of year the lavender is at its best and last week we set off to our local lavender farm to enjoy a visual and aromatic treat. This is another place that we visit every year as you can see from last year's post when we came in June. In August things look very different as the lavender is in full bloom. As soon as we stepped out of the car the smell hit us, wonderful lavender wafting on the warm breeze (it was very overcast, but thankfully rain did not materialise). We eagerly followed the sign to the fields. 

We were met by this view as we rounded the corner. A haze of purple. This is the lavender garden.

Beyond the wall of the garden, fields of lavender in full bloom. A deep breath in, and the scent is all-enveloping and intoxicating. I was in heaven.

There's a little shop and cafe, a lovely place to sit and just absorb the wonderfully scented and colorful surroundings. 

I sampled some lavender ice cream - I shall definitely have a go at making some of this at home.

Next to the cafe is a little herb garden and some fruit trees. You can smell the herbs here too, a different smell, greener and more savoury.  

There's an old silo which is now a plant sales area. A plant or two always manage to find their way home with me.

In the lavender garden there's a row of each variety with information about each one.

Pink and white varieties grow here too. I like them but think they look better when planted in a large group, as when they're on their own they can look a bit faded.

If you bend down near to the rows the sound of buzzing is very loud indeed. The plants are absolutely full of bees, all going about their work collecting pollen.

There are many in each plant. That's a lot of bees.

We've been coming to this lavender farm since it opened, and this year discovered a new treat - a flower garden full of beds of colourful annuals and perennials. Past the apple trees ...

... we came upon a tall row of sweet peas as well as a row of runner beans. The scent of the sweet peas was very strong indeed and the colours were a gorgeous mix.

There were graceful penstemons.

I love this colour combination - dark aubergine against creamy-green hydrangeas.

The runner bean flowers were pretty too.

There were deep blue delphiniums,

and statice.

Incredibly bright dahlias

Wonderful bronze chrysanthemums, a foretaste of autumn.

Beds of heleniums, bright egg-yellow despite the gloomy skies.

Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy'. I loved this one and bought a plant for our garden.

A bed of calendulas caught my eye. I have a real soft spot for these cheery flowers.

Then some deep red poppies. I love their buds and seed heads as much as the flowers.

Scented sweet williams and phlox, both very much cottage garden flowers.

The muted vintagey tones of these verbascums made a break from all that bright colour.

Here a bed of kale and brassicas looking colourful in their own understated way. The different varieties varied from silver to deep plum, some curly and some flat-leaved.

Crispy, straw-like helichrysum - I've made many dried-flower arrangements with these.

Dark purple salvias against an acid-green backdrop.

More sunshine in the form of a bed of tall sunflowers.

Finally it was time to head home. We had a lovely hour or two at the lavender farm, and for a colour junkie like me the flower beds were very inspiring and got me thinking about possible crochet projects. Before we left I made sure to buy a bunch of frilly, lilac sweet peas for the house. Aren't they pretty? You can almost smell them from here.

See you again soon x