I often forget just how lucky I am to live in Kent, but sometimes I actually venture out into the countryside and am quickly reminded just how beautiful my surroundings are.
This week we took a trip to The Hop Shop at Castle Farm to visit their famous lavender fields which are just spectacular at this time of year. I actually went last year, but made the rookie mistake of visiting at the weekend, when as you can imagine, it is absolutely RAMMED. So this year I roped in Becky (By Rebecca Brennan Brown) to come with me in the week and actually go on one of their informative tours.
The tour started off with a walk across the farm into their main lavender fields, and it was every bit as amazing as it seems! Lavender plants stretch from your feet to as far as the eye can see on the horizon and the SMELL is just as incredible.
Our lovely tour host Alice continued to teach us about the different types and species of lavender and their own different uses. I have to admit, I was a little bit embarrassed about how little I knew about lavender considering I earn a living from flowers, but it was so interesting to learn its different qualities.
We were then given some time to live our best instagram lives and take some photos in the vast rows of purple gorgeousness. STEP UP PHOTOGRAPHY DEGREE, IT IS YOUR TIME. Turns out Becky is actually better at taking photos than me and managed to get photos of me that I would actually consider posting (halle-bloody-lujah, see above!)
Alice then took us back into the farm to show us where the lavender is taken once it is harvested and turned into oil in their own distillery! Among other products including soaps, potpurri, teas and (my fave) shortbread, which we also got to sample (!!) delish!
If you're not near Kent, I think there are a few different lavender experiences dotted across the UK, but Castle Farm is definitely the biggest so if you can make a day of it, I highly recommend it!
I'm now currently planning my next flower-field trip, anyone up for a trip across the water to see the tulips in Holland..?!
