Lavender Fields of Kent

Lavender fields in Kent

This photograph was taken on a trip to a lavender festival in Kent. Yes, you heard me correctly. A festival of lavender. Definitely one of the more obscure annual jamborees I've attaneded, and I speak as one who's been to the Ely Eel Festival not just once but twice.

The lavender festival offered all kind of purple-flowered fun. There were a wide selection of lavender-based foods to try, including (but not limited to) jams, pickles, ice cream, cakes, cheeses and sausages. Some were definitely leaning to the "weird" rather than the "delicious" end of the food spectrum, but as Heston Blumenthal would (probably) tell you, no-one ever got anywhere by keeping herbaceous plants out of the jampot.

Outside of the kitchen, there were other lavender-themed delights on offer as well, like soaps, perfumes, little pillows stuffed with lavender, massage oil and more. But the best part was the fields and fields of lavender plants, which were absolutely gorgeous, smelled amazing and were crammed with bees. You should know by now that I love taking photographs of bees anyway, but I have to say I think they look best against a purple background. possibly because I think everything looks best against a purple background. I love purple.

The World In A Drop of Water

This is a teeny version of the whole picture, alas. It's a shame the whole thing is so blurry but I was rather proud of managing to get the focus on the reflection of the plants in the droplet of dew, even if I couldn't actually keep my hands still while doing so.

Campsight

When we arrived at our campsite in Cornwall this summer, this was the view over the fields at the back. Sadly it didn't stay quite as sunny for the entire duration of our stay. One evening it was raining so hard that we drove from our tent to the sinks to brush our teeth...