Lavender Fields

With my sister now back in Scotland and Lachlan working in London, Lucie and I decided to have an easy day. The Mayfield Lavender fields are not too far away and so we decided to take advantage of our day alone to go and breathe in the odour. The skies were just perfect for a photograph, full of fluffy clouds, and the Lavender was ready to start picking in earnest.

I'd have loved to give you a photo of Lucie in the fields, looking so lovely with her now evident bump but, she's feeling her pregnancy and not happy with any photograph at the moment. I could of course given you an image of the immense field of blue or the children running through it, the easels decked with boards being masterfully decorated in vibrant colours or the couples kissing in the blue. Everyone had a camera. An oriental couple with professional filming equipment were obviously making a news story or documentary, other pros were about with stunning models doing concept shots and the butterflies and bees were out in for everyone else to photograph but, at the far side of the field, totally ignored, a group of Polish people were working away.

Each spike of Lavender was carefully aligned, despite the speed in which they cut the flowers, Each bunch they created was fastened with a rubber band and carefully balanced on the top of the trimmed bushes, then collected in neat bundles to be transported by hand to an enormous pile at the end of the rows.

Only one girl seemed to speak any English and told me that they had been cutting since 7am. Some seven hours later, their skill and willingness to do a job to perfection was very evident. It was sad to see that in the whole time we were there, nobody else seemed to notice them or take a few moment to watch them at work.

We would have stayed a little longer but the dogs were waiting in the car and the shade I had parked in was rapidly moving on. We did buy a big bunch of Lavender to take home and I'll slip it into Lucies new house next week. :)