Lavender Lullabies | Castle Farm, Kent and Other Purple Stories

Sat outside, awaiting our table at french restaurant, Buvette in NYC 2012, fellow blogger and North Carolina'n friend, Hayley of Tiptoes in the Kitchen, began to regale me with her dream of discovering an endless sea of purple in the form of lavender fields.  She had embarked on a European adventure with her mother the year prior and was adamant that she would be able to cast her eye wistfully on these fields in Provence.  Her search became difficult, I forget the specific reason, but nonetheless, just as she had given up they stumbled upon some purely by accident.  These Provence fragrant fields were everything she had hoped for and more and were made all the sweeter by the fact she was so certain her dream would have to be postponed for another year.  I, in hand, told her about Castle Farm in Eynsford, Kent, England.  This lavender farm is only a half hour journey from my family's home and is an annual visit for us in July amongst peak lavender season!

Whilst pinning away on pinterest on Sunday, I was reminded of Hayley's story, Castle Farm and my love for lavender along with the happiness that their fields seem to encapsulate.  So I wanted to share some pictures of our visits there previously as well as some lavender inspired treats from my travels of late and other blogs.

Castle Farm's lavender themed events across July, the perfect haven from London one (hopefully) sunny weekend include, massages amongst the fields, wreath workshops, food tastings and tours.  All information can be found here on the Castle Farm website.

They also usually have some elegant lavender ice cream and big bunches of lavender to take away for just £2 a pop!

Picture via Elorablue

I sampled a lavender "marnini" aka martini at Top Notch Resort & Spa, Stowe, Vermont, back in January.  The mixologist at Norma's bar there not only told us the exact way to create the lavender syrup but also a fun little story as to how the cocktail came about.

There was also an interesting lavender creme brulee from the Brass Rail in Hoboken, New Jersey last July.

And a delicate lavender magherita on my birthday in april from The Swan, West Malling, Kent.

With the sun out this week in the UK I've been crushin' on this lavender collins cocktail sourced from PopSugar.

And this blueberry lavender mojito from Fancy Edibles.

Serving lavender sugar to your afternoon tea guests seems seriously dreamy, so I made sure I pinned Emporio 74's idea to remind me to dab my hand at this...

Lest we forget it's fragrant beauty and sleep inducing qualities too.

Some of my favourites to try were...

Creating your own lavender salts, from Heart Love Weddings.

Homemade lavender hand cream from All Your Beauty.

And DIY lavender oil from Buzzle.

For more lavender infusions make sure you're following my Sea of Purple board on pinterest.