Fresh Kentish hops and lavender for summer weddings

At Castle Farm near Sevenoaks, in the picturesque Darent Valley, the lavender harvest is about to get underway. Many visitors say that the scent on the air hits them before they see the purple landscape! And with many Kent brides looking for more local and in season options when it comes to their floral choices, now is the time of year to think about lavender!

Of the five different varieties which the farm grows for essential oil production, the earliest flowering lavender - ‘Folgate’ - is the favourite for cut fresh bunches and for drying. With its dense heads of deep purple-blue flowers, it’s perfect for making lavender hearts, garlands or table-centre stooks, adding in to bride’s bouquets or buttonholes or simply hanging as bunches on chair backs or pew ends. This is available from mid-June until early July.

After lavender comes the lavandin - a sturdy, taller variety, paler in colour but strongly scented. Its stem length and strength make it perfect for place settings and the dried flower buds can be used for strewing or in wedding favours. Lavandin is available from mid July to early August.

Bunches can be cut to order over the next few weeks but even though the harvest will be over by the end of July, Castle Farm’s dried lavender is available all year. Many brides use little Lavender bags as favours for their wedding guests.

Next on Castle Farm's florists' calendar is the Hop harvest. So typically, seasonally Kentish, these glorious three-metre long bines are ready from mid-August. Hang them, twine them, drape them... and then stand back to admire how effective this simple decoration can be. Advance orders can be placed online from early July.

Fresh Hops are versatile, easy to use and great for creating instant impact. They are available for purchase from mid-August to mid-September. Castle Farm will cut to order from the hop gardens.

Florist Cappy Whithouse from White & Winsome, a Kentish wedding florist says, “As with the food we prepare and the wedding flowers we create, we relish using local, seasonal produce whenever we can. Lucky for us, being Kentish dwellers we are truly spoiled with the amount of wonderful local producers that surround us, none more so than the wonderful folk at Castle Farm. We look forward each year to the hop and lavender picking seasons, and encourage our couples to include these wonderful ingredients to make theirs a truly local, seasonal affair"

Hops not only ring true to the Kentish theme, but they are cost effective, smell beautiful – and after your event, you can re-locate them to your home, where you can let them dry naturally and stay in position all year round.

Find out more at www.castlefarmkent.co.uk