LONDON, U.K.—There’s no doubt London’s streets are steeped in history but a little known secret is the city’s lavender fields. Revisiting this bygone era is an invitation to leave our familiar fast-paced London and return to a time when the London Borough of Sutton grew world-famous lavender. Today those lost fields are being revitalised and preserved for generations to come and “pick your own”.
It was Queen Elizabeth I who was said to have requested fresh lavender daily, which she used not only as a perfume but to quell her frequent migraines. It was her passion for the flowers that reportedly encouraged English lavender farming in the 17th century.
Some sources date lavender growing in the area to the 1500s, but it was Queen Victoria’s England that brought the lavender fields’ scent of prosperity to London. She expanded people’s palates by adding lavender blooms to food and medicine to improve their taste, in addition to using the sweet scent in personal care and cleaning products. Today, the Buckingham Palace website sells Queen Victoria’s English lavender products in testimony to her love of lavender.
London Fields of Calm
Revisiting London's lavender fields and where to pick your own
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London once proudly produced lavender on a large scale for medicine and household products. Carshalton Lavender is a not-for-profit organisation bring London's lost lavender fields back to life. photocraft.org.uk
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