‘You know the story of the place do you, Luke? You know about Pretty Lavender Farm?’
‘Nope. I’d never heard of it until you said about it the other day. What’s the story then?’
‘There was a couple in the village who owned the petrol station. When the bypass over near Newport Reef opened, their income dipped massively. So, they sold up. They bought a little house on the new estate and an old farm on Strawberry Hill and redid it as a lavender farm. Libby, who owned the petrol station, loved lavender and so they researched different plants to suit the Pretty Beach climate and went for it. They planted all the fields behind with it and it boomed. Like super-boomed. You can’t get in there usually when it’s tourist season. I had to call in a favour when I phoned ahead.’
‘Wow, who would have thought? What a great story.’
‘It is,’ Juliette said, as they pulled onto the gravel driveway of Pretty Lavender Farm.
‘Woah, that’s some sight!’ Luke exclaimed as they drove all the way through the packed car park and looked up over the rolling hills behind. Row upon row of deep purple lavender reeled out in front of them, and as Juliette opened her window the lavender scent poured through into the car. It filled the air with its gorgeous fragrance and left a purple haze all around the farm.
‘Take in a deep breath of that. Gosh, I’d forgotten how much I adore it up here. Intoxicating and medicinal.’ Juliette exclaimed.
‘Medicinal - do you have the evidence-based research to back that up?’ Luke joked.
‘Only my own, but I’m sure it’s out there. I’m never knowingly without a bottle of Pretty Beach Lavender, and Bella too, and, in fact, Daisy. Daisy used to cart it back off to London with her, and inhale it when she got abandoned yet again by that Matt she was having the affair with.’
‘It’s magical then too, is it? Good to treat cheating husbands?’
‘It absolutely is. When you inhale this stuff, Luke, wonderful things will happen to you.’
‘I already have amazing things happen to me with you, so I won’t really need it.’
‘Such a softie,’ Juliette replied, though the idea of doing magical things with Luke amused her and her face broke out into a smile.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Luke asked.
‘Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Come on let’s get going. We’ll walk all the way to the top through the fields and then back down for the tea and scones. It’s meant to be the best clotted cream on the earth. You’ll have to decide for yourself. If we’re really lucky there might be some Locals Only stuff left.’ Juliette replied whilst thinking to herself about the magic she was going to create with Luke later and hoping for a display from the trombones.
Chapter 4
Juliette held onto Luke’s hand as they walked through the rolling fields of lavender, the hypnotic scent almost overpowering them. They wandered along taking photos and laughing, bending down every now and then to take in huge lungfuls of the intoxicating smell of the blooming lavender all around them.
They walked along through the fields and followed the old rustic signposts to the paddocks full of the different varieties of lavender moving away from the deep purples of the first few fields to the more unusual pinks and pale lilac varieties at the back. Juliette closed her eyes and took a deep breath in as she stood next to Luke right in the middle of a field. The whole area around them was a mixture of buzzing bees and gently swaying lavender. It felt magical and calming at the same time.
‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been up here. I’d forgotten how beautiful it is,’ Juliette said and smiled at Luke.
‘It really is amazing. The work that must have been involved to get all this going. It must have been massive. All these hundreds of rows of plants. There must be thousands of them actually, not hundreds.’
‘I know. A bit different to owning a petrol station, right?’ Juliette chuckled.
‘I should say. What a lovely story. Trading in a petrol station for a farm like this.’
‘Yeah, just so inspiring.’ Juliette said with a sigh, bent down and looked at one of the heads of an unusual pink lavender, ‘I’m going to plant a whole row of this at home in the front of that flower bed on the right - you know the one where we cleared all that overgrown box from? I think it would do well in that little spot.’
‘Yes, it would look nice there. It would smell nice too when you come out,’ Luke said leaning down and picking a head of the pink lavender.
‘So, you believe in the power of its smell now, do you, Luke?’
‘Ha! Juliette, I think I actually do. It really is quite amazing.’
‘It is. I can’t remember whether or not they sell the actual plants themselves in the shop. We’ll have a look when we go in.’
Juliette and Luke strolled hand in hand all the way through the fields at the top of the hill and back down towards the old farmhouse. They followed the signs for the cafe and walked through a wide gate onto a gravel and grass area laid out with picnic benches backing onto a huge old barn with cafe tables and a long counter made from vintage farm trolleys.
Luke went to the loo and Juliette walked up to the counter to find out which one was their table.
‘Jools! I haven’t seen you for ages! How the devil are you young lady?’ Libby the owner said walking around from behind the counter and hugging Juliette firmly.
‘Hello, lovely. I’m really well. Not so young these days!’
‘A little dickie bird may have told me that Mermaid Lane is going well too, very well,’ Libby said with a wink.
‘I’m not surprised you’ve heard, Libby.
