Monday 5 August 2019

Sweet Blooming Lavender

"Will you buy my sweet blooming lavender?
For there’s sixteen blue branches for one penny
 all in full bloom".


So there I was, pedalling along the rough track on my way towards Pirton, when out of the corner of my eye I saw an unfamiliar colour in the landscape - a field of lavender. I got the above shot with some difficulty and thought that I'd call in to the farm on my way back, knowing that they'd be open to the public by then.


Despite its exotic appearance and its association with warmer climes lavender does perfectly well in Britain and has been grown here for centuries. The little snippet of a song at the head of this post goes on as follows:

"Come all you young ladies you make no delay
I have Mitcham lavender around here today"



Mitcham? That's in London, isn't it? Well, it is now but when the song was written (presumably by someone selling lavender in the street) it was in the countryside and that part of Surrey was famous for growing it commercially. Not only that but it was reckoned by some to be the best lavender in the world.



"Come all you Painted Ladies", the song might have said; the butterflies of that name were out in force enjoying the fragrant flowers.


But what was all this lavender used for? Just about everything it seems.

The Romans put it in the water in which they bathed to make them smell sweeter; the name "lavender" apparently comes from the Latin lavare meaning to wash. The English surname Lavender comes from the old name for washer-woman (were there ever any washer-men?) and its earliest reference is one Cecilia La Lavendar who is recorded as living in Cambridgeshire in 1273.


When they had dried the washing they folded it and put it away with lavender to make it smell fresher. This gave rise to the phrase "laid up in lavender" which originally meant "to be presented in the best possible way". Somewhere along the line it changed to "laid out in lavender" which referred to the practice of laying out a corpse with lavender to disguise the smells of decomposition.


Hildegard of Bingen, when she wasn't composing liturgical airs and poems, liked to wash her hair in lavender to kill fleas and head lice. She also mixed lavender with brandy and gin to cure her migraines - not what one might expect from a twelfth century Abbess! Turner's New Herbal of the mid-sixteenth century says "...wyse men founde by experience that it was good to washe mennes heades with, which had any deceses therein". Meanwhile Elizabeth I is said to have enjoyed a preserve made from lavender.


The heyday of lavender production was the Victorian era when large amounts of lavender oil were distilled to be added to perfumes and soaps. The workers who harvested the crop in Mitcham and other places were paid very low wages despite the huge profits that were being made from the plant.


Nowadays tourism contributes greatly to the economy of the growers, with people willing to pay for the privilege of cutting a few sprigs to take home in a paper bag. There were certainly lots of visitors to the lavender fields at the weekend and there was something very notable about them....


Yes, many were visitors from Japan who seem to have heard about the attraction via the internet and come here in their hundreds. But there were also many others from the various ethnic groups who have moved to England in recent decades. It's very noticeable that many of these people do not often venture out into the countryside, so it's encouraging to find so many wading thigh-deep through the fields of lavender on a bright Saturday morning.


Take care.










26 comments:

  1. I had no idea that lavender had become such an in-demand commodity, but anything that attracts people out into nature is great. And the fragrance of lavender will remind them of their visit.

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  2. Such incredible fields of lavender. The scent must be heavenly!

    I’d sneeze a lot but enjoy it anyway!

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  3. Gorgeous images John, the list of uses for lavender is endless. I can just image the perfume floating around, divine 💜

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  4. And another old song, "Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green; You'll be my queen, dilly dilly, I'll be your king." (I may have the queen and king reversed. Wonder what dilly dilly meant...since we sang this as kids!

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  5. I can't tell you how much I love this post. The fields of lavender are uplifting to my heart. The photos are so beautiful. There is something about that photo of people in the field cutting lavender that reminds me how many of us love beauty, and gives me hope.

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  6. I love lavender both colour and scent, the field looks huge and must be a delight to wander in. Your photo of the Painted Lady is wonderful:)

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  7. Such a beautiful post. I love lavender and try to grow a plant every year. It does not like heat plus humidity so generally it's dead in a few weeks.
    I keep lavender soap in closets and with linens for its fresh scent.
    Such a favorite in so many ways.

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  8. I have never seen a lavender field this big. A gorgeous view!

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  9. Amazing photographs! I have never seen a field of lavender like that, I bet the aroma was wonderful. My mum loved growing her lavender bushes, and made little lavender sachets to put in the chests or drawers with our clothes. My cousin recently sent me a recipe for making Battenburg cake using lavender flavouring. I haven't tried it yet.

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  10. Lovely. I keep meaning to visit the fields in Yorkshire and have never made it so far. Brandy, gin and lavender would give me a migraine, not cure one!

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  11. Do they know how lucky they are?!

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  12. Fabulous photographs of the lavender fields.

    All the best Jan

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  13. Lovely images! It's interesting where the name came from! BTW, there were no washermen because the washerwomen had to do them over again!!

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  14. How lovely - I can almost smell that heavenly scent.

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  15. Several people round here grow lavendar in their tiny front gardens, lovely to pass by and smell the plant.

    Lovely photos here and interesting facts about lavendar too, thanks

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  16. What wonderful lavender fields. Our largest bush is coming into flower now (mid winter)

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  17. P.s. I meant to say that is the most stylish scarecrow I've ever seen 😉

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  18. I’d probably just park there for a couple weeks to inhale the smell! The butterfly on the lavender — one of my favorite pictures ever.

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  19. I enjoyed the history of lavender...and I would love to be there to see for myself and to enjoy that view. That is a lot of people...

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  20. A gorgeous view of the lavender field. The aroma is incredible, my wife loves it so we have a little bit of it growing in a pot. I like the shot with the tourists picking it in the field.

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  21. Those purple fields are simply stunning!

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  22. Hi John - fantastic photos and lots of delightful information ... Mitcham lavender was the favourite after the War ... I guess back then we still needed cleaning up! Cheers Hilary

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  23. It is a lovely sight and makes for some great photos. I love the scarecrow!

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