Amazing lavender field is right on our doorstep

A picturesque lavender field in the rolling countryside is closer to home than you might think.

Purple lavender plants are most associated with the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean coast. Therefore, many travel abroad to visit lavender fields.

However, you may see them a little closer to home. English lavender blooms from all over the country during the summer months and you can see it for yourself at a farm in Merseyside.

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Inglenook Farm, described on its website as “quiet and peaceful”, can be found in the village of Rainford in St Helens, which is a 30-minute drive from Liverpool city centre.

Farm-based UK Essential Oils Ltd sources frankincense and myrrh resin from Somalia in East Africa and ships it to the essential oil distillery at Inglenook Farm where the essential oil is extracted. The lavender oil is extracted using steam from the small lavender field in front of the farm.

Steve Holmes, of Irby, runs Inglenook. Speaking to the ECHO last year, he said: “The lavender field has been there for years and years now and it keeps coming back thicker and stronger every year in many ways. As long as you take care of it properly, it will continue.

“Locally we were called lavender farm, the real name is Inglenook Farm, but everyone seems to know it as lavender farm. We are not a commercial lavender farm, we are just a small lavender farm and the distillery is the commercial element.

“We distill other people’s lavender crop, other lavender farms – we harvest their crop and bring it to us and use our distillery to extract the essential oils from their crop.

“We return the oil to them and they sell it as their own and can make soaps, shampoos and shower gels from their own locally grown lavender.”

Prior to 2007, Inglenook Farm was one of the largest pig farms in the area where pigs were raised outside of traditional pig pens. Cereals were also grown there.

But since then, it has been transformed into a lavender field that attracts visitors throughout the summer to take photos and admire the scents. When asked why he started working on the business, Steve said: “I was originally a researcher at Liverpool John Moores University, which is where it all started.

“I had an interest in plant biology, which led to the distillation of essential oils from plants.

“That led to finding a farm where we could grow and distill the stuff. There we found Inglenook Farm. Behind the distillation and cultivation of plants came trying to use the buildings that come with the farm.

“The distillery came with stables that we turned into craft shops. The farm that came with the farm turned into a cafe. That’s how Inglenook Farm took shape as a visitor attraction.”

In addition to the lavender field, Inglenook Farm has many other attractions. The Cherry Orchard Tea Room offers breakfast, lunch and afternoon teas with a selection of homemade cakes, while Hadley’s sells ice cream, milk shakes, homemade cakes and waffles.

There is also a dog grooming business called The Dog Barn, the Anchor House which sells home decor and the Vintage Bike Stable which restores and sells vintage bikes.

Inglenook Farm is situated on Moss Nook Lane in Rainford. The lavender farm can be seen in June and July every year. Visitors are welcome between 9.30am and 4.30pm Tuesday to Sunday.

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