Glimmer the Second - the Lavendar Fields

There is a place outside York where the air is fresh and light, and a vista spreads out before you as far as the eye can see.  It is a place without walls - either literal or metaphorical - so nothing hems you in.  Instead, paths weave through a thriving garden, leading you onward and upward to grassy fields and tall cypress trees.

This is Yorkshire Lavender - a family-run farm in the Howardian hills.  They grow lavender for use in oils, teas, soaps and lotions.  There are also greenhouses full of plants and flowers for aspiring gardeners, and a cafe featuring afternoon teas that are lightly scented with florals and fresh fruit.

It is a magical place.  Writer and poet Andrew Jackson said it best:  'It is easy, here, to lose one’s sense of scale. The scent of lavender has that strange capacity to suspend thought, to carry you backward and inward at once. You begin to notice small things — the texture of a leaf, the heavy drift of a bee, the delicate structure of a flowerhead. You breathe more slowly. The field becomes less a place of production, and more a meditation — a space in which cultivation, ecology, and memory meet.'

For me, Yorkshire Lavender has been one of the places where my friends and family have seemed the most content and happy.  Of all the places we have visited, it is this place that has sunk into their souls.  In times of stress, we all remember lying back in a grassy hollow and watching the bees while the scent of lavender drifted in the air.

Thus, it is a glimmer - a memory of peace and joy that counteracts the triggers in this chaotic world.  And I'm happy to share it with you.