FINCHINGFIELD LAVENDER
Est 2018
Book your visit
Visit Us
Lavender in bloom season is beginning of July until mis August (weather dependant)
We are a small, friendly lavender farm and campsite that values peace and tranquillity for all our visitors. We're ticket only to visit the lavender farm and cafe. To ensure a peaceful environment, we limit the number of day visitors each day. All visits must be booked online in advance.
What to expect:
Café: Our on-site café serves a selection of hot and cold drinks, along with delectable cakes and savoury baked goods – perfect for a light lunch or a well-earned treat.
Afternoon tea picnic boxes: Treat yourself to one of our afternoon tea boxes freshly prepared offsite each day and available by pre-order. A limited number are also available on-site, so feel free to ask if you haven’t pre-ordered.
Relax amongst the lavender: In the lavender field you will find deck chairs, sun loungers, hay bale sofas, chairs and picnic blankets to make your visit as comfortable as possible. Whether you prefer relaxing under a shade sail or soaking up the sun in a sunny spot, the choice is yours.
Facilities: We have one composting toilet and 3 urinals on site which are just for day visitors.
Accessibility:
The field is flat, as is the access from the carpark to the lavender field. But we are a meadow field and have no hard standing. We have plenty of wheelchairs and mobility scooters assess the field with no issue, however everyones needs are different so please get in touch if you have any questions. We don't currently have a ramp up and into our cafe which has a small step up into it. We have plenty accessible seating and shade / shelter that's accessible.
Please note that the toilet has two steps up to it.
Dogs:
No dogs allowed as we are a no dog campsite and we have lots of fluffy chickens, runner ducks and a cheeky couple of Chinese geese.
Pre-booked afternoon tea picnic box
Pre-order when you buy your ticket. Available only up to 48 hours before your arrival. Veggie, vegan and gluten free options available. For any other allergies or dietary requirements you can select the option to purchase with your ticket and email us your dietary requirements.
Each picnic box contains:
Selection of finger sandwiches (1 round)
Homemade Cumberland sausage roll
Broccoli & cheddar quiche
Freshly baked homemade fruit scone
served with clotted cream & strawberry jam
Freshly baked triple chocolate brownie
one tea or coffee from our cafe
THE LAVENDER
Lavandula × intermedia 'Grosso' is known for its deep purple flowers and powerful aroma which carries across the meadow as the plant releases oil from its leaves in the heat. The purple haze on the landscape starts in July and gradually deepens over a few weeks and lasts right up until September.
We have lump clay soil in this part of Essex, lavender loves poor quality free draining soil so lots of stone and wood chip was needed to improve the drainage before planting. 80 tonnes of stone and 30 tonnes of woodchip were spread over the field and then shallow ploughed into the soil. We customised a Norfolk potato plough with the help of Phil the Farmer into a Lavender row ridger and then ridged our flower beds to provide even more drainage.
Here on the farm we harvest by hand as it's the quickest way to cut and bunch for a farm of our size. The lavender is then hung in our drying shed until dry and ready for sale. We also make oil which is used in candles and other products.
GET INVOLVED
Whether your visit coincides with Easter tree planting, wild flower seed broadcasting or Lavender harvest we have plenty to do here on the farm. Get in touch and arrange a fun filled day of getting back to nature and seeing instant results of your hard days work.
Volunteer at harvest:
We harvest part of the field, leaving the rest looking beautiful for visitors. We harvest to make dried lavender products and send to other small businesses who then make products that we thens sell in our shop and cafe.
Volunteers are needed for a shift between 8am - 1pm.
Tea and coffee and water is provided as well as an afternoon tea box per person to be enjoyed in the lavender field after the shift.
Volunteers will be required to help cut the fresh blooms for dried bunches and oil harvesting, weeding and any other harvest related jobs.
We have completed a successful harvest already for 2025 so won't need any more help this year, however if you would like to help in the future please complete your details in the link below.
How it all began
We are not actually quite sure how or why we are here.... but we craved the countryside and cycled around many of the surrounding villages and Finchingfield and fell in love with the area. I'm pretty sure some wine was then involved, shortly after a few searches on the internet for land for sale and that was it... the serious business plan and research began. A year later in 2015 the gravity and reality hit as we collected the keys of a 'project' farmhouse in need a lot of love and hard graft and 9 acres of grassland.
We set about our smallholding adventure in to create a beautiful landscape to share and live on and from. While working full time in our 'normal jobs' and commuting we worked on the field to prep for planting. In the meantime potting up and growing 5000 little bushy lavenders ready to be planted a year later.
One and a half acres of the grassland is now home to 27 rows filled with 4,500 deep purple Lavender Grosso all hand planted in June 2018 with the help of friends family and our fabulous neighbours.
The rest of the field has been left to self seed and is flourishing with native wild orchids, ox-eye Daisy, cornflowers and poppies. The campsite part of the acreage is set within the wildflower meadow with mowed pathways leading to facilities and pitches.
Every year we add and tweak to make things more beautiful and we hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.
