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lavender, come and buy my fresh lavender
 “Carshalton,
Surrey was once the home of the worlds Lavender production, producing
arguably the finest Lavender in the world.
“The Lavender is commonly known as "Mitcham Lavender",
as the distillation plant used to be located on the Mitcham / Carshalton
border at Figs Marsh. Indeed the Lavender fields stretched all the way
from Wallington in the South to Mitcham in the North.
“A combination of competition from abroad, combined with demands
for war time metal and then the post war London housing boom (the first
large scale council estate was built at St Helier, Carshalton largely
on the site of the Lavender fields), led to their demise. Towards the
end of the 1990's local sustainable charity organisation, Bioregional
started the revival project, claiming unused (often fly tipped) pieces
of land and planting them with direct descendants of the original Lavender
plants. These plants have been nurtured by community projects and harvested
on an annual harvest event involving the whole community (for details
of the next harvest click here), where everybody can get involved.”
[Quoted from naturallythinking.]
Naturallythinking sells, on the internet, perfumed products
made using Carshalton lavender.
“A whole community has come together to take control of their
surroundings through the regeneration of this public space, improving
the quality of life of many people beyond just the active participants.
The partnership includes a range of community groups from HM Prison
Downview to the London Borough of Sutton, from Sutton Allotment Society
to Yardley of London, from Friends of Oaks Park to Alexander Gardens
Day Nursery, from Hallmead Day Centre to BioRegional Development Group,
not to mention the thousands of ad hoc volunteers and visitors.
“Lavender has been enthusiastically adopted as a neighbourhood
theme helping to create a sense of local identity at work, school and
play. In nearby Wallington, lavender Christmas lights sparkle, schools
have created themed hedges and mazes, a lavender sculpture was commissioned
at the local supermarket and a local pub changed its name to reflect
this communal legacy.
“Thus a once abandoned, unkempt plot and a piece of native history
has inspired a group of people with diverse interests to come together
and create a valuable healthy space for learning, working, playing and
dreaming.” [Quoted from pictureofchange.org.uk]
“Conservation Project of the Year
Carshalton Lavender
The project has seen the re-introduction of three acres of lavender
fields to an area of south London. Carshalton lavender mixes conservation
ideals with nostalgia, recreating, on a much smaller scale, what was
once a very important local industry. It also educates younger residents
on the benefits of preserving the local eco system.” [Quoted from
Observer
Ethical Awards 2007]
 In
France’s Haute-Provence , north of the Côte d’Azur beaches,
the perfume region based around Grasse is having problems to find
enough customers for their annual lavender production. One grower, however,
has had a clever idea and now the region’s lavender growers turn
their lavender into a sweet-smelling ‘rice’ to throw at weddings.
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