Castle Farm
Lorna Roberts and Marcus Rowlerson at Castle Farm
Castle Farm has been in the hands of the Alexander family since 1892 and is a few miles north of Shoreham in West Kent. Lorna Roberts (pictured above) is one of three children in the family and kindly gave us a tour.
The farm spans 1200 acres. Crops include arable fields (such as wheat, oats and barley), hops, apples and pumpkins, while cattle roam the water meadows.
The family first planted lavender 25 years ago and it has now become a key crop. In fact, Castle Farm is now the largest commercial grower of lavender in the UK. Lorna explains that if you lined up their hundred acres of plants end to end they would stretch around the M25.
Bunches of Lavandin, which have longer stems than Lavandula angustifolia
There are two key ‘types’ of lavender - lavender and lavandin. The first - Lavandula angustifolia - is the classic lavender with the soporific fragrance. At Castle Farm they grow the varieties varieties ‘Folgate’, ‘Maillette’ and ‘Ladybird’, a variety they bred themselves at the farm.
The second - Lavandin - is a natural hybrid and contains a higher level of camphor, a natural stimulant. Lavandin plants produce more essential oils and are the predominant commercial crop for use in toiletries and cleaning products. At Castle Farm they grow the variety Lavandin Grosso, amongst others.
On the farm, the lavender crop is hand-picked, bunched then dried in kilns for use in interior decoration, but the bulk is machine harvested and used to create lavender essences or distilled for essential oils.
Lavender is increasingly used in professional kitchens and cocktail bars. For chefs and mixologists, lavender essence is sometimes used to flavour desserts such as pannacotta, sorbets and ice cream. Lorna explains that lavandin oil is better suited for working with dark chocolate. Lorna also recommends the pairing of lavender and lemon.