2 days ago
Why tourists are obsessed with a lavender farm near Croydon
It's a cloudy and humid Wednesday afternoon but the mediocre weather isn't enough to put Praewpat Tongtilert and Parichaya Mekrungroj, best friends from Thailand, off their photoshoot.
The pair have been planning their trip to a lavender field for months, and are wearing cream and white floaty dresses — according to Parichaya, 'a good contrast with the lavender' — pink lipstick and dark sunglasses. They spent hours snapping photos among the purple shrubs that meander over the countryside's undulating hills.
This is not the south of France. I'm just outside Croydon, at Mayfield Lavender Farm in Banstead, Surrey.
As lavender comes into bloom this August, thousands of social media-savvy influencers will take up one of the UK's increasingly popular photo opportunities. Last week Cotswold Lavender, a 45-acre farm in Snowshill, Worcestershire, reported a 42 per cent increase in ticket sales last year compared with the year before. British lavender is a hit on social media.
Praewpat, 32, a dentist, discovered the family-run Mayfield farm on YouTube in a video about visiting the UK. She and her friend are on holiday here, and travelled two hours by train and bus from their hotel in London to see the 25 acres of fragrant shrubs.
'A friend recommended that we come as the lavender looks best this month,' says Parichaya, 30. 'It took quite a long time to get here but it's such a nice change from the city.'
Lavender fever shows no sign of abating. In the fields in this otherwise untouristed corner just south of London are visitors from China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and India, carrying phones, hand-held cameras, tripods and selfie sticks. Each has paid £6.50 for entry. The farm offers professional photoshoots ranging from £60 to £150.
Many lavender farms in the southeast of England turned their fields purple to diversify their operation due to declining prices for other crops, and initially just produced essential oils.
Now Mayfield's gift shop stocks everything from lavender gin and vodka liqueurs (£15.95) to lavender-scented teddy bears (£15).
Lorna Maye, who opened Mayfield Lavender Farm in 2006, says that in the beginning most visitors were locals who found it a bit of a novelty. Then in 2011, when the field was recommended on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, Maye says Chinese tourists began 'coming in busloads'.
Maye spotted the potential. In 2013 she installed a 'quintessentially British' red telephone box she found in a reclamation yard. A few years later, VisitBritain swooped in, using her field in advertisements. As a result, 2019 was Mayfield's best year for visitors, closely followed by 2020-22, after an explosion of social media interest during the pandemic.
The farm is set to have another record year, but Maye won't tell me specific numbers: lavender farming is a competitive business. 'So many other lavender farms have popped up across the country,' she says.
The 140,000 plants are weeded by hand and Mayfield's biggest source of income is the entry fees, but those alone aren't enough to keep the business lucrative. Mayfield sells £6 lavender oils, £30 gift sets, plus scented soaps, teas, honey, chocolate and jam. The outdoor café serves lavender-flavoured ciders and iced lattes.
Climate change is presenting a challenge. Lavender season lasts usually until late August but, as the country gets hotter earlier in the year, the lavender blooms faster. This year the season came two to three weeks early.
On the farm, I find orderly queues for photos outside the phone box and other props, including a tractor, hay bales and a heart-shaped bench.
For Angeline Ang, a 25-year-old airline employee from Malaysia, fitting a day at the lavender fields into her itinerary was non-negotiable. Ang, posing among the plants with two colleagues and equipped with a selfie stick, tripod and digital camera, says she discovered the fields on TikTok. 'We do it for the 'gram,' she says, laughing. 'We planned our outfits especially.'
Maye says many of her customers are cabin crew who 'work for Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific and come straight here from the plane. We have to remind them not to drag their suitcases through the lavender.' Royalty from Saudi Arabia also come back every year with their entourage 'and are very generous. They buy lots in the gift shop and give £50 note tips to employees,' Maye says.
She receives many eclectic requests about photographs. Recently, someone asked to bring their horse and visitors have turned up with ferrets, parrots, rabbits, a hedgehog and a tortoise. One woman would do an annual shoot with her white Samoyed dog, whose tail was dyed purple for the occasion.
For others, the lavender represents something more sentimental. 'Lots of people ask to scatter a family member's ashes here — which we do allow — or ask for bunches of our lavender to give at wakes,' Maye says. The fields mean a lot to people.'
