“Is there anything you particularly want to do while in London?” I asked my good friend, Amy, in a Facebook message. It was September 2013, and she was visiting me from the US for a week in London. I had thoughts of the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey — or perhaps something a bit more unusual, like The Hunterian, or Columbia Road Flower Market.

My phone dinged not two seconds later, with the message, “Can we go here?” She popped through a link: Mayfield Lavender, a lavender field located not too far outside of London. But far enough away that it made me go, “Really Amy?” and roll my eyes slightly. Amy loves nature and the outdoors — she was on her way to do a year of WOOFing through Europe, after all — so this somewhat strange request didn’t really surprise me.

In the end, we didn’t have time to make the trip out to see the lavender during her visit. But this conversation was the very first time I had even heard about Mayfield Lavender (from a non-local, no less!). It is what began a four-year quest to make it down to see the lavender blooming, each year a failure — until this July, when I finally ticked it off my bucket list.

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