July 2020

Greetings! It has been quite a while since we were allowed to venture out, four months to be exact, since the quarantine began here. Pubs and restaurants just opened on 4 July and you can imagine just how crazy that got. We aren't quite comfortable to make any overnight stays yet; everyone and their brother is doing that now. We figure we'll wait to see how things pan out over the next few months. Hopefully, a second lockdown will not be needed.

Our first adventure out took us to Hitchin Lavender Fields, a short drive south along the A1. It is a lavender farm; I didn't know such a thing existed. The farm has 35 miles of lavender rows which you can walk through. As well as the lavender fields, the farm also grow sunflowers that bloom from mid- August onwards, which we were a bit early for. They also have a large wildflower area. The farm has some spectacular views of rural Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

A little history lesson on lavender. The origin of lavender is thought to be from the Mediterranean, Middle East, and India and can be dated back to over 2500 years ago. Lavender was first thought to be introduced to the UK by the Romans thousands of years ago. Lavender has natural anti-sceptic properties and was used to treat battle wounds. As early as the 1500's the small market town of Hitchin was becoming more of an established grower and was one of only two major lavender growing areas in the country. The Hitchin Lavender Fields are part of Cadwell Farm which has been in the same family for more than one hundred years and for five generations. Lavender was introduced to the farm in 2000.

Hitchin Lavender: https://www.hitchinlavender.com

Some of the pictures from the fields

Some of the wildflower area:

There was a little shop on the property that sold some of the products made with the lavender that is harvested at the farm. The shop also had some delicious lavender shortbread and lavender ice cream as well as many other baked goods and sandwiches.

Hitchin Lavender Field was such a beautiful area and I'm glad this was our first foray post-quarantine.

On to the next adventure...