A lovely day out at the the famous Mayfield Lavender Fields in Banstead happened over the weekend. A 25 acre Organic Lavender Farm in Surrey, less than 15 miles from Central London. The North Surrey Downs was a major booming lavender hub in the 18th and 19th century but was all but destroyed by the 1930s following massive housing development and overseas competition. This is the last remaining original Victorian lavender farm which was lovingly resorted and now maintained by a husband and wife team since 2006.
It was your typical rainy muggy summers day so my pictures were a little different than the bright summery ones that one mostly sees online. It was a little late in the season (best time I think is last week of July or first week of August) and only a fourth of the 25 acres was still in bloom but I was still happy with the outcome of some of the pictures and it depicted our very typical British weather. It smelled amazing and the rain made the whole field even more potent. I will be going back next year for sure on a sunny day to take more stunning pictures.
Even though it was raining and blustering there were still plenty of people about breathing in the wonderful aroma, even from as far as field as Japan and China.
There were also lots of lovely bees about doing their buziness pollinating, who I spent a good bit of time chasing about with the lens.
There was even a little adorable bee catcher
Then the rain headed in and changed the view quite completely.
Me, all set up for British weather while others took to cover hehe! Overall a lovely but wet day. I came back smelling all over of wonderful lavender and highly recommend a visit.