Tag Archives: fragrance

Discovering the perfumed scent of tuberose in the garden

Posted in Chanel, In the garden, Perfume, Scent, Wellbeing by

Polianthes tuberosa, growing in the garden, flowering late in September this year.

It’s been a while since I last posted anything on this blog. Since my last entry, we’ve been in lock down and during this time, I’ve spent more time in the garden, planting for the joy of watching nature come alive.

In May, I planted 5 tubers of the precious Polyanthes tuberosa ‘The Pearl’ in pots. Instructions were simple, put in pots around 3 inches deep in a sunny spot. I put them into 3 pots and waited. I chose them because the scent was described as highly scented and found in many perfumes

Within a month the tubers started to push through the earth and their leaves began to emerge and grow tall. Out of the 3 pots, only one of the tubers I planted showed small buds and bloomed.

In the early morning, brushing past the bloom, it releases a heady scent which I can only describe as sweet, combining the scents of flowers such as irises, roses, lilacs into one floral scent, that feels like sunshine, almost alcoholic as it hits the back of the throat and nose.

Monotheme Tuberose

You’ll find it in Monotheme’s Tuberose Eau de Toilette, a budget perfume that is available in Marks & Spencers in the UK or on Amazon.

For more indulgent luxury, I love the new perfume from Chanel, Gabrielle Chanel.

It has a softer citrus start and includes my favourite scent of Grapefruit, Orange Blossom, Jasmine, Ylang-Ylang, and the rich floral scent of tuberose.

Since the flower has now faded and it’s time to dig up the tuber and store it in a warm place inside the house, it will be a long time before it’s possible to plant it in the garden and watch it grow.

It’s the first time I’ve planted this flower this year, so I’m not sure if I’ll be successful in saving the tubers and getting it to flower again and whether it will be possible to enjoy it’s heady scent in the garden next summer.

So for the time being, I’ll be bringing the sunshine scent back now that the days have grown shorter and colder.

Nuxe nourishing dry oil for unpredictable weather

Posted in beauty, Health & Wellness, Skin Care, Skincare, Sunday Spa Feature, Wellbeing by

 

It’s been snowing this weekend, in the middle of March! when it’s supposed to be spring. The unpredictable weather has caused all sorts of problems in my garden, the daffodils which were just starting to bloom have all died, and the cherry blossoms are looking all very sorry for the snowy blizzard conditions. Not that I’m complaining too much, the house is warm, and we are enjoying the snowday in watching films on Netflix.

The weather and central heating have made my skin blotchy with dryness. Whenever this occurs, I use a facial oil to boost the level of moisture in my skin. If you’d like to make your own facial oil, there’s an easy recipe here

Last year, for my birthday, I received

a lovely multipurpose oil from the French beauty brand Nuxe.

It boasted many uses, from adding shine and moisture to your hair, reducing stretch marks, alleviating dry flaking skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, it truly is an amazing multi-purpose oil.

With so many uses, it means that it has reduced the number of products in my bathroom cabinet.

I use it as a light body moisturiser, a quick spritz after a shower means it locks in skin softness and prevents dry, cracked skin. It is so quick; I don’t have to wait for the oil to sink in before getting dressed because it’s a dry oil.

On my hair, I spritz it into my hairbrush after blowdrying so that it protects and adds shine to my hair and seems to make my hair between washes last longer.

On my face, I can use it by mixing it into my moisturiser and add extra oomph to combat the recent cold weather.

The ingredients in the oil all have skin benefits. There are no less than seven botanical oils, sweet almond, camellia, hazelnut, borage, macadamia and argan oils and is free of preservatives, silicone or mineral oils.

The scent of the oil is a warming fragrance like a comfort blanket, or a warm hug and reminds me of vanilla and sandalwood. It is described by the brand as orange blossom, magnolia and sweet vanilla.

Hmm, even though I love making a facial oil because this has so many uses, I think this is going to be a permanent addition to my skin care routine.

Enjoy!

L’Occitane and the scent of Lemon Verbena

Posted in Health & Wellness, Perfume, Skincare by

L'Occitane Verbena perfume

L’Occitane’s Vervine Verbena is a sparkling scent that always lifts my spirits.

It’s especially refreshing in the summer, I love its lemon zesty aroma first thing in the morning as it wakes me up the moment a spritz of the perfume hits my skin. It’s like a kick of caffeine without the side effects.

Of course layering the scent with the delicious range available means that the scent lasts all day.

The little tube of hand gel is handy for travel and feels instantly refreshing when rubbed into your hands. I was a little worried that the gel formulation might not be as good to keep my hands moisturised, but it keeps both the scent and moisture. Better still, just a little of the gel goes a very long way and the gorgeous scent has a way of surrounding my desk just after I put some on to make me smile and lift my mood.

It really does feel as if I’m bringing a walk in a lemon grove into the office every time I wear this scent.

In fact, the scent of lemons can have a positive effect on productivity at work. Research findings found that the citrus scent of lemons improved moods and raised levels of a brain chemical linked to executive decision-making and motivation. And whilst it is a little luxury, it is a

great reason for me to use this scent every day.

Because everything will be coming up roses – Rosewater Facial Wash

Posted in beauty, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

Rosewater Facial Wash

I love the sent of roses.

Yesterday I finally got around to planting the two rose bushes purchased a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t got round to putting them into the garden as the previous weekends had been busy and the weather had been, well pretty unfriendly.

So when I looked out of the window in the morning, there was no more excuses. I dug the soil, as it had been wet, the ground was soft and much easier to dig. With some bonemeal to sprinkle into the earth around the rose bush, I patterned down the earth around the two rose bushes.

I can hardly wait for the first rose buds to appear. The rose bushes cost just the same as a bunch of ready cut roses from the Supermarket, but hopefully, they will yield a lot more blooms throughout early summer and Autumn. I chose fragrant varieties in deep pink and white.

Rosewater Facial Cleanser

Meantime, in the bathroom, I’d run out of face wash. I prefer to wash the day’s make-up off with soapy cleanser, somehow the foaminess feels so much more refreshing than just the Rosewater toner/cleanser that I use afterwards.

Since I have a bottle of Doctor Bonner’s Castille Soap (baby wash version) waiting to find a use in my cabinet, I’m using this for the first time to make a batch of facial cleanser. As it is supposed to be non-scented, it will make a good base for a natural facial wash, though it still has the scent of Castille soap.

I’ve combined this with Rosewater along with Jojoba Oil and the scent of rose along with Jasmine makes the facial wash a floral sensation.

Here’s the ingredients:

1/4 cup Doctor Bonner’s baby non-scented Castille Soap (you can use solid or liquid)

1/4 cup Rosewater

1 teaspoon Jojoba oil, 1/2 teaspoon Rosehip Oil*

4-8 drops of your chosen blend of essential oil (I’ve chosen to use a 10% dilution of Jasmine Absolute and Rose Geranium)

Making the facial wash could not be easier, just combine all the ingredients in a bottle shake vigorously to combine and put a cap on.

I use this at night to remove make-up and afterwards use the Rosewater and Witch Hazel Toner. Just wash face until all trace of make-up has gone. It is quite watery, though if you use a muslin, simply squirt a bit on a damp muslin and rinse until clear.

That’s it, and best of all it’s all natural and can be customised to suit your skin

*I have chose Jojoba Oil and Rosehip oil as these have great anti-aging properties. You can use Coconut or Sweet Almond or any other natural oil best suited to your skin instead. Experiment until you get the right consistency you prefer

Rosewater Facial Wash

 

 

 

 

 

 

Korres Jasmine Shower gel

Posted in Bathroom, Family, Health & Wellness, inspiration, lifestyle, Scent, Skin Care, Skincare, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

This is one of my favourites as there’s only one way to describe the scent in this bottle and that is its sublimely indulgent.

The heady scent of Jasmine will hit you the moment this makes contact with water and skin.

The scent is as natural and as authentic as you can get to real Jasmine. I love the idea of enveloping myself in its aroma, drinking in the scent as if I’m sipping my favourite Jasmine Tea from Whittards.

From outside in, the scent of Jasmine can be a natural drug to lift your mood. It stimulates the release of serotonin which boosts energy. Perhaps this is the reason I love it so much.

As it is one of the most expensive essential oils to buy, I have a small bottle which contains a 10% dilution in jojoba oil, which I keep to add a few drops into the night time facial oil I made.

Around 8 million Jasmine blooms are needed to produce a kilo of essential oil, commercially the blooms are hand picked at night when their scent is at their most powerful. I love the idea that the magic of the scent is only released at night. There’s something very Arabian nights about this.  It also means it’s one of the most expensive oils to buy.

It also reminds me of my early childhood home where we had a Jasmine bush climbing outside our front door.

In in early evening as the blooms released their scent, our home was bathed in the delicate scent. I can’t explain how I remember this, I just do and that’s mostly the reason why I am always drawn to anything that’s Jasmine scented.

 

Christmas Gift making – Sweet Orange, Cinnamon and Ginger Beeswax Candles

Posted in Christmas, Health & Wellness, inspiration, lifestyle, Projects, Scent, spa treatment, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

 

Last weekend, I decided to make some lovely Christmas gifts to give to friends and family. After a Sunday spent making these lovely gifts, I found myself succumbing to a cold which I have only just shaken off. It meant that I didn’t get round to writing this post until now.

If like me, you like scented candles, receiving one as a Christmas gift would be lovely. I love the gentle glow of candle light, it seems to calm and soothe the senses. I have a small collection of candles from L’Occitane in little metal tins, which gave me the inspiration for this little hand made version.

Making your own filled candles is so easy that I’m now addicted to making them, all you need is to find some containers, flame proof of course and some candle wicks for lighting the candles.

The wicks can be simple pieces of string tied to a stick so that it can dangle down to the bottom of the container (I’ve tried this using chopsticks and a metal Skewer) but it turned out that the cotton string I used didn’t stay alight.

After a bit of research, I found a company that makes ready-made wicks (already inserted into stablisers). They are actually called sustainers. Choose the ones that are pre-waxed and are labeled with the diameter (You need to make sure that the pool of the melted wax goes to the edge of your container) that matches the diameter of your container.

To keep the sustainers from moving, place a small amount of melted wax on the bottom, or if this is a bit fiddly, use Glue Dots – these won’t show as they are transparent.

Once the beeswax has melted in a jug over simmering hot water, add your choice of fragrance to the wax just before you are going to pour them into the containers. Personally, I prefer using essential oils.

I’ve chosen Cinnamon Bark, Sweet Orange and Ginger to fragrance these little candles.  Just add 10 drops of each essential oil into the wax which is based on the dilution amounts in aromatherapy – 30 drops for every 100ml of carrier oil (The quantity I’ve put into the tins is approx 100ml in each tin. I’ve made two tins with cotton wicks and two with Cotton Wicks.)

If you’d like to make the candles as gifts, there’s just enough time to order the materials from Amazon in time to make up a batch.

Heres what you need:

You can get the beeswax from Amazon *in the UK here:  or if you are in the US you can find it here.*

I also tried them with these wooden wicks* from Amazon, they crackle and sound like the crackling of an open fire. Perfect to sit and enjoy with a hot cup of coco at night. If your in the US, you can get these here:*

Metal Tins* can be found here in the UK.

You can get them also from Amazon in the US here*.

As these are little, they will make perfect little stocking filler treats.

*Contains affiliate links

Jasmine and Citrus, Hand blended Perfume for Christmas

Posted in Christmas, Health & Wellness, Perfume, Projects, Scent, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

 

 

Making your own perfume is relatively straightforward.

This year, I’m making a few Christmas Gifts, as a way of making Christmas feel just a little bit more home spun and personal.

Having looked on several sites and researched the types of ingredients that goes into perfume making, there are just a few ingredients most of which you will find easily either in your cupboard or online.

To make the Perfume all you need to do is the following:

  1. Decide on the strength of the perfume:

    This is determined by the amount of scent to alcohol. An Eau de toilette is around 10 percent. An Eau de parfum is around 15-20 percent and the strongest called Parfum is around 30 percent.

  2. Decide on how you want to use the perfume:

    Solid (such as in a oil based waxy balm) or Rollerball (oil based) or in a Spray. The main ingredient in the perfume is the carrier, which can be alcohol or oil based. With Alcohol, the oils in the fragrance can be dispersed from a spray and is how most of the famous brands market their perfumes. Very high quality fragrance houses such as Chanel will offer the perfume in stronger variants, for instance Chanel No5 is available as a Parfum in a very tiny but exquisite bottle. The higher the alcohol content (proof) you can find the better in terms of dispersing the scent. You can of course go for perfumers alcohol, but since there’s likely to be chemicals, which is sometimes called Alcohol Denat – this means it’s been treated so you can’t drink it. Personally, I think it’s better if you can drink it, as it means, if it’s ok to drink, it’s going to be suitable to put onto your skin. I’m choosing Vodka as this has no scent and is as pure a form of alcohol as you can get easily. Smirnoff or Grey Goose will do.

  3. Decide on the fragrance or Scent:

    Perfumes tend to be made up of top notes, the scent you can smell immediately. The middle note, the heart of the fragrance and the base note which is the final scent that lingers long after the others have dissipated, all three notes combine give the perfume the harmonics that make defines it’s unique character which when mixed with the chemicals that make up your skin, makes the experience of the perfume unique.

I love experimenting and mixing scents together. It makes the process so much fun and it also means it’s one of a kind, unique as no one else will have the scent that you’ve made.

Since Jasmine is my favourite scent of all time, I’m going to use this as the “middle note” for the heart and distinctive character of the perfume. And as I prefer things to be as natural as possible, all the oils I have chosen to make this perfume are essential oils.

Jasmine Officinale or Jasmine Absolute is known as the King of flowers. It has a very sweet floral scent. The scent has been central in perfumes for centuries, in China it represents the sweetness of women, in Persia it was known as the perfume of love.

It is also amongst the most expensive pure fragrances, the version I am using is 10% diluted in Jojoba oil. Since the fragrance is very strong, a little goes a long way.

I’m combining this with citrus notes of Sweet Orange and Bergamot essential oils.

Finally, for the base note, just a hint of Cedar wood essential oil, which not only has therapeutic benefits, is also a “fixative” which will slow down the evaporation of the perfume and slows down the overall scent of the perfume from fading. It is sweet and woody at the same time and combines well with both the citrus notes as well as the floral scent of Jasmine.

To make the perfume couldn’t be easier. In a small bottle which should be as opaque as possible to prevent sunlight from affecting the oils, I have combined the following:

Ingredients for hand blended Perfume:

50ml Vodka

20 drops of the Jasmine Absolute in Jojoba oil

10 drops of Sweet Orange

10 drops of Bergamot

2 drops of Cedar Wood essential oils.

With the spray stopper in place, shake the bottle until all the essential oils have been mixed together into the Vodka.

It will take about a week for the oils to come together to form the perfume. You can of course mix the oils first in a small mixing jar until you get the desired scent you prefer.

You can find more information about the different types of scents at Aromaweb’s section on Aromatic blending.

All that’s left is to find a pretty box and gift wrap to make this little personalised gift ready to give for Christmas.

Home detox

Posted in At home, Bathroom, Clean Home, Kitchen by

Home made all purpose cleaning sprayCleaning the house is not something I enjoy. I try to avoid it until it becomes unavoidable.

It takes up so much of precious time at weekends that I am left grumpy at the thought that the endless cycle of cleaning has eaten away at the precious time I’d like to spend doing other things with the family.

In an effort to find ways to cut down, simplify and find short cuts, I’ve been looking at a number of blogs.

There are so many hints and tips to help you get through the household chores and I’m beginning to learn by doing.

I came across a number of blogs that recommend using Vinegar and Bicarbonate of Soda and adding essential oils for their antiviral and antibacterial properties and also to remove the smell of the vinegar.

home detox (2)We’ve been using this distilled vinegar from a Chinese Supermarket. It was in the local Chinese Supermarket in Mitcham that we sometimes go to stock up on Chinese ingredients.

The place caters for both those in the catering business as well as for people who are looking for Chinese specialist food and ingredients.

I love the smell of the supermarket and walking round, there are so many interesting things to look at, most of which I have no idea what they are or how to cook with them.

Compared to other distilled vinegar you can get, it is a little different and as it was the one white vinegar we had in the cupboard, I decided to use it, rather than go and buy another one, which I think would defeat the purpose of trying to simplify and cut down on the number of cleaning products around the house.

We bought it to remove limescale from our kettle, and it works really well at this job. I am sure that there are Thai recipes, with lovely sauces to try with this Vinegar, so will look them up for another time.

Since reading a the blogs about how to clean and organise a home, I decided to try making the bathroom all-purpose cleaner from Clean Mamas post – you can read it here. It seemed simple enough, water, vinegar and alcohol. I wasn’t sure though whether it would work without some kind of soap in the mix.

home detox (3)Since I had some fragrance free washing up liquid that had been under the sink, I thought this could be a good option to try. I hadn’t liked it for dishes because I like the smell of citrus when washing dishes, It was pretty good at cleaning though, I just prefer ones with a lemony scent.

With the washing up liquid and the distilled vinegar, I made up the following mix:

1/4 cup of distilled vinegar

1/4 cup of vodka

1/4 cup of washing up liquid

3/4 cup of water

Lemon , Tea Tree and Mitcham Peppermint essential oil

Lemon, Tea Tree and Mitcham Peppermint essential oil

(If you want to make more than this just use the same proportions as above in larger quantity, or follow Clean Mama’s recipe)

As the blog post recommended adding essential oils, I chose lemon for its lovely citrus fragrance. It has antibacterial properties and has an uplifting scent.

Tea Tree Oil is sold in most pharmacies for its anti bacterial qualities.

Since I like the smell of Mitcham Peppermint essential oil, known for it’s antiviral properties, I used this as well.

A cleaning detox that means no more harsh chemicals around the house and a simpler way to clean.

I put equal amounts : 10 drops of lemon, 10 drops of Tea Tree and 10 drops of Peppermint oil in with the vinegar, water and alcohol.

As I’ve just finished an Ecover multi purpose cleaner in a spray bottle, I decided to recycle it for this home-made cleaner.

I rinsed it out with some water, put some bicarbonate of soda in and left it over night, rinsed it out to remove as much of the chemicals as possible. With all the ingredients added into the bottle, I put the top on and shook it up to make sure all the essential oils were combined into the other ingredients.

I’ve been using this home-made cleaner for about a month, it’s good on kitchen counters, sinks, baths and the loo.

Because the spray is homemade, I’ve not thought of cleaning so much of a chore now. In fact as I clean, I look and inspect to see whether the spray is cleaning as well as the shop bought cleaners available.

I think it does a better job. The sink and bath are shiny and there isn’t any streaking on the shiny chrome surfaces.

home detox

The air doesn’t have the heavy artificial fragrance of commercially bought cleaner and now that all the scents have had a chance to combine, I can smell the sweet uplifting scent of Peppermint and lemons. The bathrooms just seems fresher and the surfaces of the ceramic sinks look just as shiny.

Using the spray with a little Biocarb gets the grime lifted away far better than the commercial cleaners I’ve tried, so that’s reduced the number of cleaner products I use around the house and saved on storage and my wallet – Brilliant!

Do let me know if you have a cleaning tip / idea to try.

“Let the memory live again” – Cats the musical

Posted in inspiration, Musicals, Perfume by

Cats - the musical, Memories the song

 

Looking back to a time when I was at school, there is one memory that stands out that could be described as terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

If you were to visit the school on a regular basis you would soon realise that our Music teacher was the one that ran the school. She didn’t hold the official title of Headmistress or anything like that. She was a force to be reckoned with, no one ever spoke badly or her. Every one, whether you were a student or a teacher was slightly intimidated by her.

She reminded me of, well I didn’t know her personally, but Mrs Thatcher, a person who was strong-willed and determined to get things done, but with the quiet dignity of her generation.

I didn’t appreciate her, or what she helped me to achieve until much later. So going back to this particular moment in time, I was about 13 maybe 14 and she announced that everyone who was studying a musical instrument had to perform at the school concert. There was no reprieve, no excuses.

Since I was studying both piano and voice at the time, I was told that I should use the opportunity to sing.

With the song chosen, the day arrived. I was terrified as I stepped onto the stage, I don’t remember much about what happened next, except that it felt like the longest time passed between the first chords of the piano accompanying me starting and the final chord finishing the song.

There seemed to be the longest pause between that and the audience beginning to clap. I couldn’t see very well because the stage lights were blinding me, and as I heard the claps from the audience, my face started to turn blotchy and red with embarrassment. It was over finally and I could step down from the stage.

The choice of song could not have been less appropriate for a girl of 13, but the melancholy melody was spell binding. I had never been to see the musical, let alone read all of the poetry of T.S. Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Cats, so knew very little about the musical or the song.

But as my singing teacher played me the melody on the piano to me and I read the lyrics, I was hooked. It was beautiful and even though I didn’t appreciate their true meaning at the time, I liked the song.

Now, many, many years later, as I read the lyrics again, the words are now a poignant reminder of my memories as I watch my kids grow older with each day that passes by.

It reminds me that I too am growing older with more days to look back on, whilst my children have the days that stretch ahead of them to look forward to.

I understand the lyrics better and their meaning of a life well lived.


“Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale, cold smell of morning
The street lamp dies in the cold air
Another night is over
Another day is dawning”

Grizella is the cat that sings this song, and if I could describe her personality through these lyrics as a perfume, then I think of Opium by Yves Saint Laurent, a rich decadent oriental scent that was powerful but feminine to the core. I remember the advertising, Linda Evangelista at the time representing everything I thought to be glamorous and powerful, it’s not for the faint of heart. I’ve wanted to wear this on many occasions, each time I pass by the Yves Saint Laurent beauty counter, I stop myself just short of getting it, largely because, it’s a heady scent and I think it would only be for very special and rare occasions that, well are too few and infrequent to justify at the moment.

The perfume’s potent message hasn’t changed, even with the latest advertising campaign featuring Emily Blunt:

This article was written for Wednesday’s On that Song feature on Chow Kim Wan’s blog about Musicals and various aspects of the shows. Wednesday’s feature is for other bloggers to share their song choices.

Lavender picking afternoon in Carshalton

Posted in inspiration, lifestyle, Places Visited, Scent, Wellbeing by

Freshly picked lavender from Carshalton

The weather forecast for last weekend was not good, both Siri and Google predicted a cloudy day with sunshine and rain. Not great for walking around in a field full of Lavender then.

However as Saturday morning arrived and I peeked out through the blinds, the sun was shining.

We decided to go because I’d always wanted to and this was the only weekend the event is held each year.

In the usual mum mode, I tried to persuade everyone to come along, but my eldest wasn’t going to be budged from her laptop. Only me then and my youngest. I made her wear a raincoat, plus a hat in case of both sun and rain. We must have been pretty funny to look at.

My husband drove us to Carshalton, it’s not really very far from our house, but it would have taken us a long walk.  With plenty of lavender we wanted to pick, I thought it best to save our energy for when we got there.

The field itself is tucked away in a quiet residential corner of Carshalton Village, less than 20 miles from Central London.

Field of lavender in Carshalton

Field of lavender in Carshalton

It is one of the few remaining sites where Lavender and other herbs was grown as part of a once a thriving industry for the Surrey towns and villages of Mitcham, Sutton and Carshalton.

I had read about the Lavender Picking in Carshalton at our local library some years ago and had always wanted to go, yet somehow, as each year passed, the opportunity also passed. It was either too wet or we had already planned something else.

It is run by local volunteers as a charity, keen to keep the lavender field and it’s history alive.

As we approached, there was no need for the directions or signs, a small steady stream of families, with buggies, young toddlers, teenagers, adults made their way to the field. Plenty were leaving too with huge bushels of Lavender in their arms or tucked into their shopping bags.

The sight of the people with their bags and armfuls of lavender got my youngest daughter so excited that she walked on ahead to investigate. If you’d like to see the post my daugther has written, please visit here it made made me laugh just reading it.

A small line of people were in front of us and we queued patiently to collect our bucket and scisssors.

Bucket of freshly picked lavender

Bucket of freshly picked lavender

Cutting the Lavender was the best, in the field were different varieties of lavender, some had shorter stems of blue grey colour with round soft flowering heads, whilst other lavender plants were tall and proudly waved their stems of deeper coloured lavender flowers in the summer breeze.

The fragrance was all around and we were enthralled as people mixed with butterflies and bees, collecting pollen and harvesting the lavender together.

No one seemed bothered by the bees as they buzzed around us collecting their harvest, as there seemed to be plenty for everyone.

The event would not be complete without a craft fair display. Locally produced goods was available, including ready to purchase cut bundles of Lavender alongside bottles of Lavender Essential oil which had been distilled from the lavender grown in the field.

If I could describe a perfect afternoon then this would be it. Our haul of lavender consisted of 2 large bales of lavender (I have no idea what I’m going to do with it all, but I expect none of it will go to waste), a little tiny bottle of the essential oil, apparently it takes about 3/4 of a ton of fresh lavender to produce about 11-12 pounds of oil. So very precious indeed.

Bees in lavender field

Bees in Lavender field

There was a demonstration with the distillery which had been made locally from recycled materials, so we got to learn about the process of distilling the lavender oil.

It’s made in a giant steel container. The process is a bit like one of those Morrocan Hookhas where the bottom of the container holds boiling water to steam the leaves or lavender in this case. As the steam rises, it passes through the freshly picked lavender and the oil from the steam is collected in a special reservoir and the water collected below. This water is the floral water that perfumers and the beauty industry call “hydrolat”.

As well as the oil, I purchased a small pot of Lavender to grow in our garden called Lavender Grosso.

After speaking with the gardener, I asked him which variety would be best for someone who isn’t very green fingered and wants to see the plant grow quick (I have no patience). Apparently Lavender Grosso grows to a meter high and is very fast growing and likes to be in sunshine, when planted in soil, it doesn’t need very much water (in a pot it will need watering frequently). It seemed the ideal plant suited to my temperament.

Lastly, my hubby spotted a small display of pots full of honey and jams, and we couldn’t resist purchasing a small pot of lavender honey.

And the rain stayed away until Sunday. perfect!

lavender Honey and Lavender Essential Oil
Bucket of freshly picked lavender from Carshalton
Lavender in Carshalton field
Bees collecting Pollen from Lavender
Lavender essential oil and lavender honey from Carshalton
Taking photos of the bees in Carshalton Lavender field
Carshalton Lavender field