A couple of weeks ago, I went to Mayfield Lavender Farm in Banstead. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this part of England was the centre of the world's lavender production, before urbanisation and cheap French imports did for it, so it's nice to have some back again in the same area. The farm has quite an interesting history. It's a lovely place, just on the edge of London; two fields of purple flowers, leased from Sutton council.
There were so many bees that the constant buzzzzzzing began to sound like noise pollution similar to planes. Strangely, it didn't smell very strong when I was there — must be one of those weird things where the smell is so distinct and potentially overpowering your brain switches it off so you can recognise other things over the top of it. Odd.
Inevitably, I took some photos. So here they are. If you click on them, you can see them at a bigger size.
little fat bees getting drunk on pollen
spot the baby
See the whole set here. They've started harvesting the lavender this week, but there's still a bit of time to go and see it before the end of August. It's worth a look.
