Lavender Fields and Cathedrals: Hitchin and Ely
Everyone loves essential oils, especially lavender ones, and I’m no exception. But do you know what’s better than lavender essential oils? Real lavender, especially those in a field that stretches out as far as the eye can see!
That’s exactly the Hitchin Lavender Field in England. As soon as I got to the gates of the farm that blissful Saturday morning, the air was filled with the scent of lavender and I could already feel my stress dissipating.
Hitchin was about 45 minutes away by train from Cambridge – it was a bit north of London but was close enough that the Ubers we called at the station were still classified as “London Ubers”! The fields are about 10 minutes from the train station.
There were two sections of the farm: One is a “Lavender Display Field,” in which we weren’t allowed to pick the lavender. However, we were free to frolic among the blossoms and bees, taking as many pictures as we wanted! It was free to enter and the flowers were Instagram-perfect, but the field was a bit small in terms of area.
The sign in front of the lavender display field!
The farm also offered a larger field that we had to pay to enter (six pounds per adult). The entrance fee included a brown paper bag and scissors, and we picked lavender to our hearts’ content! The field looked a lot like a stereotypical lavender field, or at least like those in Provence, France – the sea of purple stretched up over a hill and went on forever, or at least it felt that way. Just standing there was calming for me, surrounded by lavender as the sun shone overhead.
Not to toot my own horn, but this is one of my favorite pictures! It’s my current phone wallpaper. I was standing at the top of the hill in the field when I took this picture.
We went towards the end of the lavender season, which runs from mid-June to mid-August, so many of the blossoms had already dried out. The fields were more gray than lavender, but the smell still wafted through the air and little purple blossoms still peeked out of the tops of the shrubs. The cute bees bumbling around the flowers were harmless – so long as you didn’t disturb them, they wouldn’t bother you.
I could walk for hours in that field and not tire of picking lavender, taking cute pictures, and chatting with friends. The farm had over 60 different varieties of lavender! They also offered a sunflower field, but we couldn’t find or see the sunny blossoms when we went.
A close-up of some lavender. There were still some purple buds/flowers!
They also had the cutest little gift shop and café in a small barn, where they sold their own essential (lavender, of course!) oils. They offered cakes and ice cream – two flavors I recommend are the honeycomb and the lavender ones. My friends and I spent half a day there, but you could easily spend an entire day if the weather is warm. It was such a lovely reprieve from the hustle and bustle of classes, work, and life.
That same weekend – on a different day, of course – my friends and I visited Ely, a small city about 5-10 minutes away by train from Cambridge. It has a picturesque river running through it.
I recommend visiting the Ely Cathedral, too – it was huge, imposing, and gorgeous. While there is an entrance fee, my friends and I stood by the entrance, as close as we could get without wandering around inside the church. There was also a wedding ceremony going on when we visited, so perhaps it was better that we did not disturb the happy couple!
The cathedral from the outside (top) and the cathedral from the inside (bottom). The high ceilings were grand!
By the river was a small market square, but the day was so windy that most vendors were advised not to set up shop. We walked along the river instead, taking pictures and joking around as we wandered around the quaint city.
A quick photo I took of one of the streets in Ely.
This weekend, spent in Hitchin and Ely, was our last one during the program. We were all extremely tired from the previous day spent soaking up the sun surrounded by lavender blossoms, but it was a satisfying end to our program in Cambridge!