Harvest time at organic lavender farm

Tuesday, July 28 2009 14:35:56 by Editor

Sunday marked the beginning of the harvest at Britain's largest organic lavender farm -Mayfield Organic Lavender.

The 25 acre farm in the Surrey Downs has 25 acres of lavender, which is used for oils, perfumes and confectionary.

Brendan and Lorna Maye revived the farm in 2002 and have since built up a sustainable and organic business, which is situated just 15 miles from Central London.

After initially planting the fields with lavender the couple faced disaster after 70,000 plants were destroyed by birds, but have since managed to build up a succesful crop.

They said: "Our aim is to develop an environmentally-sustainable business that can prosper without costing the Earth.

"We are encouraging biodiversity on our field; we have allocated significant perimeter land for the wild seeding of native flower species and as a consequence the field is thriving with a rich variety of flowers and wildlife."

The Mayfield Organic Lavender farm is certified organic by the Soil Association.