The best lavender fields in and around London

You’ll smell these rolling, perfumed fields long before you see them. Set up in 2006 to help revive the historic lavender industry, which boomed here in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the 25-acre farm harvests its lavender and distils its oil on the original Victorian site. Take a stroll through the beautiful rows of purple before popping by the alfresco restaurant for some lavender tea and a scone. There’s also a gift shop on site to stock up on aromatic treats.

1 Carshalton Rd, Banstead, SM7 3JA. Jun-late Aug, times and price TBA. No picnics. mayfieldlavender.com

London’s botanical treasure trove holds tons of eyepopping flora, but make sure you seek out the spikes of violet-blue lavender peering out from the sculpted foliage of the Duchess Border, growing (appropriately) along the outside wall of the Duke’s Garden. The regal border has been a test bed for Kew’s lavender and other Mediterranean plants since 1990. Lavender pops up elsewhere in the 250-year-old gardens, such as alongside the luscious plant life in the Prince of Wales Conservatory.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, TW9 3AE. Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat-Sun 10am-8pm. £20-24, £18-22 concs, £5-7 ages four-15, free for under-fours. kew.org. 

Forget Provence. Take a day trip to Castle Farm’s lavender fields, which give the French purple rows a run for their money. With 95 acres of the crop, the folks at Castle Farm cultivate the largest lavender farm in the country, extracting oils in a steam distillery. There's no need to hop on the Eurostar.

Pre-book tickets to the fields to avoid disappointment. There are three options: a lavender walk with a recommended time of one hour, a two-and-a-half-hour lavender picnic or a guided walk that lasts one hour and 15 minutes. Dogs are welcome for the first walk, but leave the pooch at home if you're opting for the latter two. 

Redmans Lane, Shoreham, Sevenoaks, TN14 7UB. Late Jun-late Jul, Tue-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 10am-5pm. castlefarmkent.co.uk.

Tucked away behind a miniature model village and a rose pergola, this urban park holds a maze of blue, purple and indigo blooms. Planted to mark the centenary of the Vauxhall Motor Company in 2003, the gardens here may not be as expansive as their out-of-town counterparts, but they’re still a beautifully scented, picturesque distraction in bustling south London. A community harvest takes part every year, where the flowers are collected by participants to be turned into oil that’s then sold at South Lambeth Market.

12 Lawn Lane, SW8 1UA. 7.30am-15 minutes before sunset. Free. lambeth.gov.uk. 

Okay – it’s located a little further out of town than you might be used to, but make the journey up to Hitchin Lavender at Cadwell Farm and you’ll be rewarded by a true purple paradise. The farm has been managed by five generations for more than 100 years, and the indigo flowers here were introduced back in 2000. If you visit during the flowering season, you’ll even be able to pick some blooms to take home with you.

During the day, the farm shop is open for you to stock up on pretty much any kind of lavender product imaginable. Make sure you delve into the glorious sunflower fields, too. Worth going that extra mile for.

Cadwell Farm, Arlesey Rd, Ickleford, Hitchin, SG5 3UA. Early summer-late Aug, times and price TBA. Book a time slot in advance. hitchinlavender.com.

This green gem holds a compact but charming flower patch modelled on an old English kitchen garden. Lavender beds have been planted here for years, but a Heritage Lottery grant has allowed the 1931 nursery to be renovated and replanted with two species of the flower. Find them beneath olive trees in the garden’s Mediterranean beds and around the sundial at its centre. The bee-friendly plants are also a stone’s throw from Bee Urban’s headquarters, where ten hives are kept at the Keeper’s Lodge.

Kennington Park Rd, SE11 4BE. 7.30am-15 minutes before sunset. Free. lambeth.gov.uk.