Flax field

A lovely crop of blue linseed flax on today’s bike ride. There was a spell in the late 1990s when you saw a lot of it, as farmers chased EU subsidies for the crop. It was not the Common Agricultural Policy’s finest hour, with scandals in Spain and much muddle over flax for oil vs flax for fibre (as in linen) which had been part of the original intentions. They are two quite different plants - I know a certain amount about this as I’m a hand spinner of wool and many other fibres, so flax interests me. Still the linseed crop makes for a very pretty and distinctive, and, dare I say it, unEnglish looking field!