As you probably know by now we have extended our Studio at Whistlebare. We are very excited about our fabulous new space because we now have room to stock more products from the farm. Our whole ethos is to produce beautiful, environmentally kind products through regenerative farming practises.

In order to treat our soil as best we possibly can we need a mixture of livestock and growing plants. Our latest venture is with lavender. Lavender has so many wonderful qualities, it smells divine, it promotes restful sleep, it even has antibacterial properties. We think it will be perfect in our new range of goats’ milk soap.

From the farm’s point of view we hope to plant rows of lavender between our rows of trees where it will be a beautiful habitat for our honey bees. The perfume, which is so lovely to us, is actually a deterrent to lots of pesky insects like flies and mosquitoes so rows of lavender will provide a haven for our livestock to escape pests.

All round lavender seems like a good idea so we have began a growing test in our garden. We have long beds at the edge of the terrace in front of the house. Unfortunately these beds are very exposed to the wind and most plants do not survive the battering. Lavender though has been known to grow successfully. For my last Birthday Mr Whistlebare gave me lots of lavender plugs, in four varieties, sourced from Lavender World in Yorkshire. Tess and I duly planted them in the front beds and are excitedly watching them grow. Unfortunately it takes four years for lavender plants to mature so my naturally impatient nature is having to contain itself, but so far so good!