Soothing

I have always found the smell of lavender soothing and calming.. particularly when I have a headache.. it seems to clear the head and soothe the soul.. so I grow it in my garden and so did Dad.

One of our regular visits was to the Norfolk Lavender Centre, Near King's Lynn and we would always come back with yet more varieties of the plant, some English some French but always Purple..with the odd occasional white one, but the purple ones give the best scent in my opinion.

Some would live through one Summer, and never return, others would grow on year on year into magnificant plants and I save the heads and dry them for recipes, for putting in bags in with the clean sheets etc. and crush it to release the heady scent of Summer once more. I still have some of the plants from when Dad was alive.

The fields around the Centre, in the height of Summer are fields of purple, and a sight to behold for even the most frequent visitors. The heads are harvested and the essential oils steamed out of them for use in the worldwide famous Norfolk Lavender range.

The Centre also includes a visitor centre, shop and a cafeteria and many of the foodstuffs sold include lavender heads as an ingredient. My first taste of lavender cake was here and it was lovely, though to be honest if you don't like lavender then there would be little point in using it in cakes, biscuits or other food stuffs.

I can thoroughly recommend a visit, even in Winter, for those in the region of it as they have some really great lavender products, and even some plants for sale - though it is best to get those in Spring time.