Lavender fields and sunflowers in Hitchin

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Last Updated on 11th August 2021

You don’t have to go to Provence in France to see beautiful sunflowers and lavender fields. There are many dotted around the UK. This one just happens to be 35 miles north of London outside the small market town of Hitchin. ‘The Travel Bunny’ has a full list of English fields on her blog and The Cosy Traveller too. The very end of July/start of August is the perfect time to visit but be quick as the season is a short one. You don’t want to miss out!

The lavender fields in Hitchin are set on a rolling, south facing hill. It has lovely views across the Hertfordshire countryside as you look down from the top. They have sunflowers on the eastern side of the complex too. Sunflowers are certainly a lovely, complimentary addition to the dozens of rows of lavender.

Have a Hitchin lavender pic on your wall at home …

Take a look at this photo and others in my Biggsytravels Picfair gallery …

Check the details, FAQ and flowering season information on the Hitchin farm’s website, including how to book in these COVID times. Generally each year:

• Wildflowers – early June onward.
• Lavender – FULL BLOOM mid-July to the end of August.
• Sunflowers – usually early August to the start of September.

How much does it cost to get in?

With the Hitchin Lavender fields you used to be able to simply park up and pay your entrance into the field. However now you have to book instead due to COVID. It’s £7.50 + (£0.56 booking fee) for adults, with children between the ages of 4-16 £5.50 + (£0.41 booking fee). Anyone under 4 gets in for free. Adults get given an A4-sized paper bag to pick the lavender, wildflowers and the sunflowers (sunflowers are 50p a stem). Any extra bags you’d like for children or if you fancy a whole load of lavender is another £4. Simply pay in the farm shop, in the museum, or up on the main field itself.

But it’s not just for people wanting to pick lavender. Entrance permits you to “Instagram” and photograph away until your heart’s content, although portrait shooters and commercial photographers are charged a £50 fee. In fact when I was there it was a 50:50 split between photographers and lavender pickers.

Late night Tuesdays and Fridays until 10pm

… but starting from mid-June. I visited on a Tuesday evening as I wanted to take my shots in the setting sun but it’s also open late on Friday’s until 10pm too. I wasn’t alone in my thinking when I visited but the lavender field covers a large area so there’s plenty of room for everybody. Once again please check their website for any rule and time changes.

When I arrived there was an Indian film crew, two “brides” doing magazine cover shoots and at least 3 families with small children with their accompanying professional photographers. It was as much fun watching them as it was taking photos myself. It seems that Hitchin Lavender is becoming a nice addition to the tourist trail for visitors to London who want to see and appreciate a bit of the green English countryside.

Before I even got to the main field we stumbled across a group having a yoga lesson as well! I can’t think of a better place to have one, and this particular location has both a large wigwam and outhouse building for various outdoorsy arts and crafts activities too.

Fancy having some lavender at home?

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I was drawn to the sunflowers for most of my photos

Lots of people were either taking arty shots looking down along the rows of lavender, taking close-ups of the bees, snapping photos of other people or simply enjoying wandering up and down with the lavender brushing against their shins. I took the majority of my shots amongst the sunflowers, many of which seemed to be facing the “wrong way”, lagging slightly behind the sun as it swept slowly across the field, but the odd one was bathing directly in the evening sunshine, making for some beautifully saturated yellow colours.

As the evening drew to a close the sun began to set behind a hazy bank of clouds. This time around I wasn’t able to take any sunburst photos. However here’s the one I took the year before that happened to win their annual photo competition. And it was simply taken on an iPhone 6 so nothing fancy.

There’s a gift shop and a café too

I didn’t buy anything from the café/shop this time round. But I did take a look to see that there’s an array of food to choose from. Enjoy this sitting on their comfy chairs (both inside and out). You can also buy plants and a whole assortment of different lavender products. These ranged from candles, to bath salts and body oils. A new addition is a little museum that explains some of the facts and figures, and history of lavender farming in the region.

As well as the lavender products there are some gorgeous lino prints by Hitchin-based artist Kim Raymont from £12. Click on them below to take you through to her Etsy shop or alternatively find them in the field’s shop above.

Alternatively you might like to take home a mounted and framed limited edition A4 print of a photo I took at sunset in August 2018. These can be found in the farm shop too and come in an A3-sized frame all ready to hang.

Don’t forget to take some lavender home with you!

As the evening drew to a close I noted that I’d taken over 50 photos. It was time to put my camera away. Instead I turned filling up my paper bag with lavender. Finally closing out the evening by walking back down a 150m aisle of lavender, arms out wide touching the tops of the lavender as the sides brushed against my legs. The bees seemed to be far too full on nectar to be remotely interested in what I was doing. You return the scissors back near the entrance and then that’s the lavender fields visited for another year. Although with a few weeks to go I might well go back before the Summer’s over.

Who wants to visit? 🙂

Now it wasn’t featured in BBC drama Doctor Foster but did you know the main locations of the show were mostly filmed in nearby Hitchin?

If you’ve enjoyed reading up about the sunflower and lavender fields, how about visiting snowdrops at Hertfordshire’s Benington Lordship Gardens? You’ll need to wait until February though! Or if you want to see more of the area’s beautiful countryside then check out The Greenway cycle route that circumnavigates the town of Letchworth next-door.

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