A Beautiful Encounter: Hitchin Lavender Farm

I've always wanted to see a lavender field - an actual grand field with rows and rows of lavenders!

This year I won't make it to Southern France, so I found Mayfield, Cotswold and Hitchin lavender farms.

After some Googling, I settled with Hitchin because of proximity and some photos online.

Hitchin station is just 30 minutes away from London King's Cross.  The lavender farm is an £8 taxi ride from the station.

We arrived afternoon and were famished.  We went into the cafe/store and got some food (spotted the must-try lavender ice cream while paying).

We bought quite a bit from the store!

I never liked the smell of lavender or its products much until today.  Right now, there are some lavenders resting by my bedside table.

Apart from picking, you could also buy lavenders in soil.

Lavenders are drought tolerant flowers, so I'd imagine you would only have to water it once in a while.

If you've picked them from the fields, then watering is needed more often.

(Though they make lovely dried flowers too!)

The dining area is quite big.  We found a bench all to ourselves shortly after paying at the till.

This play station is for children three to eleven years old.

I guess this play station is for children below three years old?

Beautiful blue sky after almost a week of gloominess and cloudiness.

Lentil & bacon soup £4.45

One word: delicious!

Antipasto Platter £8.75

Lavender Ice Cream £2

This is a must-try!  The taste is so light and so lavenderly-sweet.

Lavender Cupcake £??

This goes perfectly with the ice cream!
(Someone couldn't wait to have a/several bites...)

After lunch, we strolled slowly (due to fullness) towards the entrance booth.  Do remember to buy your entrance pass at the cafe/store!  Price detail is here.

This is a small field for your preview.

It truly was the grand field I was looking for!

To the right...

To the left...

Here's my dream, right here, standing in the middle of a lavender field and having my photo taken!

My dress is pink, can you tell?
I purposely dressed for the occasion in a matching colour, but the sun kind of ruined my effort lol.

Walking through the lavenders was a bit intimidating just because there were A LOT of bees, wasps and many other bugs flying all over...some even hit my face due to high speed flying.

I would really like to tell you the bugs do keep busy and leave you alone.  But, I saw a mother brought her daughter to the ticket booth asking for medicine...the little girl's foot was quite swollen (poor thing).

Do you spot the giant bees?

I was wearing my short dress and so far, after almost seven hours, my legs still look okay.  All I can advise is...it is safe to wear shorts and short skirts but keep in mind that you and the bees and wasps are sharing the field.

In Southern France, lavenders are in full bloom around mid-July.

I guess there are still bits of green in Hitchin because we don't have such warm weather in the UK.

For £4.50 per person, you get a pair of scissors (have to be returned later) and a brown paper bag.

You're allowed to cut and bag some lavender home!

We saw a wedding venue on our way to the exit.

This view was just behind the newly weds' ceremony!

Such a cute sign!

The wedding reception.

A little bit sad to leave this place.

Today was a lovely day with good weather, good food and good company.

I had little expectation for the Hitchin Lavender Farm, but it definitely exceeded anything I could ever imagine for UK.

After seeing my first lavender field, I am quite determined to visit Provence next summer!