Our Story

Cornish Lavender germinated from a coastal walk on a bright Sunday morning (with a bit of a hangover if truth be told!).

We moved to the farm in 2015 whilst I was working in media full time, unsociable hours, and my husband was still in the military. Thanks to incredible support from friends and our community, we survived, but all the while I was grieving the loss of my mum who passed away just before we moved onto the Cornish Lavender Farm.

Mum, Sandra, was a tiny 4 ft 11 inches but a full on powerhouse. She had a serene, spiritual side to her which she shared with everyone she met and when she qualified in later life to be a massage therapist, aromatherapist, and reiki practitioner, she found her calling.

In the early days of my Royal Air Force career, I qualified as a massage therapist to find common ground and deepen our mother/ daughter relationship. I found it hard to connect with Mum as my parents divorced when I was teen and I spent a lot of time away whilst in the RAF. On that massage course, I learnt all about the therapeutic, healing and relaxing qualities of essential lavender oils, with very few contra-indications and loved lavender’s versatility and aroma.

For reasons that you’ll learn when you come to visit us at Cornish Lavender, the colour purple has dominated my life and not being from a farming background having grown up in the outskirts of London, looking after the land and livestock was alien to me. However, I wanted to do it properly, and passionately believe we must look after our environment because if we look after our land it will look after our children’s children, so the land at Great Carnbargus Farm is now proudly certified by The Soil Association as having “Organic” status. Our Cornish Lavender plants will be certified organic from April 2023 and we shall use the harvest to make our essential oils and lavender products.

And so a journey of discovery began in 2017, to see whether the land was suitable for growing lavender and whether we could transform our environment into something beautiful, productive, and support our ecosystems. It seems that it is!

In 2019, we planted our first Maillette, Grosso and Folgate, self propagating from this original rootstock to develop more plants. The 2020 COVID pandemic offered us the opportunity to open the lavender field for social distanced family and friends reunions, after the first lockdown, 5 years ahead of schedule. Thanks to a wonderful group of volunteers, affectionately known as The Lavender Hill Mob, we are making strides forward in developing the farm for visitors to enjoy, but there are many areas still a ‘work in progress’.

So sign up to our newsletter, so we can let you know all the news about visits to Cornish Lavender, keep informed as to how we are getting on, learn how to make your own Lavender Cream Tea, attend a workshop or plan a picnic or event/wedding in the Lavender Field or in Cliff’s Wood.

Tina and the Cornish Lavender Family