Francoise is at that stage of recuperation when she needs to have a walk, so I thought, why not go to Somerset Lavender Farm, which is in a small village called Falkland about 6 miles from where we are. It is an ideal place to go to for light refreshments and a tea or coffee, not to mention the most delicious local ice cream.

“At Somerset Lavender we have a farm shop and cafe, where you can purchase a selection of our hand made lavender products that we make on the farm.
We also have a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating where we serve hot and cold beverages, homemade cakes and light lunches. Booking is not required.

This is a review that will show you not only the property itself, which, by the way, is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The postal code is BA3 5WA, and the web address is www.somersetlavender.com it closes on the last Sunday of September and if you want to check whether they are open, the phone number is 01373-834893 It also opens around Christmas time.

From the website of the farm

There were not many people when we attended, possibly due to the blowy and not very sunny weather. The building ahead is a shop and a cafe with limited seating. A new building will come on stream from next year depending on circumstances.

Buy everything and anything connected to lavender.

Staff members dutifully and lovingly packing small packets of lavender soap. The enthusiastic server, Jazz, is in front of the coffee machine

The till with plums, pumpkins, and flowers for sale.

A view from the veranda where we sipped our drinks and enjoyed the skyscape.

What appears to be a carpet on the left is a very large Newfoundland dog owned by two affable locals.

Anyway, that’s my plug over, so let’s have a look and see what’s going on. This is the season of apple harvests, and although we were told not to pick up fruit from the trees, there was nothing to say, “Don’t pick those lying on the ground,” which we did. It looks quite late in the season for sunflowers, but they looked impressive nevertheless.

I could not help noticing the dry ground complete with cracks, which must have made everything more difficult at this time of year. Pumpkins were doing all right, but they seemed a bit small to me. Maybe it is too early in the season. We decided to have a walk around the very extensive fields, having been lured by the sight of apple trees, flowers, and acres of sunflowers.

When there was a notice saying we could not pick apples from trees but no notice saying that we couldn’t pick the ones that had fallen on the ground, which we did with great enthusiasm.

Children having the time of their life playing in an abandoned container. It’s wonderful how young people’s imagination is can be stimulated bye the simplest of surroundings note there is no mobile phone in sight

I am no expert on flowers but here are some examples

The outer row of sweet peas are past their prime; the other two rows are runner beans. 

More lovely flowers, how abundant nature is at this time of year

A sneaky peep into the next fields in this rural landscape 

Sunflowers, all dutifully pointing to the sun (or the point of maximum light)

Francoise enjoying her ‘must get of the house’ wish come true

We were both drawn to this excellent example of a dying but still majestic tree

On our return, more canopies of flowers.

lovely red and yellow flowers with plenteous mulch

and more…..

If you live anywhere near the area and have a few hours to spare, then why not pop along? This type of facility is not commonplace and to romp alone fields smelling of lavender is a very pleasurable experience