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The land here at Wolds Way Lavender is some of the poorest farming land in the area. We have around 6 – 12″ (15 – 30cm) of Sandy Soil, then around 28 feet of pure Yellow Building Sand.
This stage involved carefully digging off the top layer of sandy soil and placing into heaps to reveal the Yellow Sand underneath.
The Top Soil would be repalaced at a latter stage. To compliment the New Display area and extended Narrow Gauge Railway we have commissioned a drawing which we have had made into metal signs in-line with the famous train advertising posters of the 1930′s and 1950′s.  Wolds Way Lavender Metal Signs The sign has gone on display in the Distillery along with some of the signs of that time!  Around 3000 plants have gone back in the new area. The ground was prepared to replant 7 rows of Lavender alongside the existing Harry’s walk and the new area. The plants are l.x.intermedia and when mature will be distilled to extract the 100% pure Lavender essential oil. They were planted in mid September 2011 and are currently looking good. More will follow!
 The start of change of the Lavender Fields.
 The digger makes short work. D'ont try this at home!
 10,000 plants, 8 years work all gone in around 3 hours!
The plants after 8 years had a fair old hold into the ground, but they were no match for our digger! Yes the realisation that we had lost the plants was sad, but the start of creating a new and exciting area more than lifted the spirits. The Lavender was lifted at the end of August 2011 and little did I realise that it would take right through until April 2012 to complete our ambitious redesign of this area. The next step will follow! The first step in rebuilding the lost area of Lavender was to decide on a plan. The plan developed as a sketch utilising various ideas. It was clear that we did not need to replace all the area with Lavender as we were producing more than enough 100% Pure Wolds Way Lavender Essential Oil to meet our needs.  Wolds Way Lavender Design Sketch 2011 We decided that we would extend Harry’s Wildflower and Sculpture walk that we developed at the end of 2010 for the 2011 season. It had gone down well with the visitors. We also decided to extend the Maze exit back up towards the Maze entrance to manage the visitor flow. A Lot of visitors were missing the rest of the Nature Walk. And finally the ultimate improvement as requested by a lots of our visitors; Extending the Narrow Gauge Railway track to make a circular ride. More will follow!
Over the winter of 2010 / 2011 a large area of our Field Lavender plants succumbed to the exceptionally cold weather.  The Lavender plants in the distance all died due to the extreme 2010/11 winter. The problem became apparent around May 2011 when the plants tried to limp back to life / did nothing at all! We had sleepless nights. Eight years of hard work had gone into this area to establish the Lavender. To see it almost entirely wiped out was heart breaking. We decided to let the area grow and harvest what we could from it in the summer.  The Lavenders where very patchy. We harvested the area in August 2011 and it yielded around 5 litres of 100% Pure Wolds Way Lavender Oil. The area normally yields around 30 litres of Lavender Oil. We had to make a major decision at this stage; To plant or not to replant was the question!!! The story will continue.  Wolds Way Lavender opens for the 2012 season! What a fantastic start to the new season! We opened on 1st April 2012 and already many people have visited. We have added new items into the Lavender Fields and have changed around the Tearooms. Previous Staff have returned for the season and we are pleased to welcome Eric back after his two year long break. It is good to see faces past and new! The new Wild Flower & Sculpture Meadow is taking shape in more ways than one! New sculptures will be added during the season. The newly extended Narrow Gauge Railway is on Track to be a great sucess with the visitors! Our new scheme of a half price return ticket has been well received along with our green ticket offer! (Come by public transport or by push bike and get a £1.00 off the normal admission price.) We look forward to seeing you during 2012.  Welcome to 2012 at Wolds Way Lavender
We would like to thank all our previous customers for their support over the last few years. Time has flown by since we first opened to the public in 2003. 2012 is lining up to be another fantastic year, we have created a new area, ”Harry’s Walk” a Wildflower Meadow & Walk to which we will be adding various sculptures over the next few years. The first has been commissioned and we are looking forward to its delivery. The latest addition our newly extended Narrow Gauge Railway is taking centre stage and compliments Harry’s Wildflower and Sculpture Walk. Our 2012 brochure is now available to down load Click Here The lavender this year is approximately three to four weeks behind on previous years. It is finally coming into flower and the bees and butterflies are increasing in numbers. On 11th July 2011 the following butterflies were observed; Small Heaths, Small Whites, Tortoiseshells and Ringlets.  Butterfly at Wolds Way Lavender We are hoping to start Distilling the Lavender (weather permitting) in early August. We look forward to seeing you at Wolds Way Lavender! Wolds Way Lavender leads the way as an eco-friendly Attraction! We have just commissioned our ground Source Heat Pump. It all started back in late 2007 when we started the rebuild of one of the old Piggeries. The 1st task was to lay 2 x 300m of 40mm black plastic pipe.
This was no mean task, the route went out through the Plant sales area across the car park.
Then through onto the 2nd Car Park
And then back down the main driveway into Wolds Way Lavender
Both ends of the pipes end up back in our Plantroom andare connected to the Ground Source Heat Pump.
The Ground Source Heat Pump is a fantastic bit of kit that collects heat from the two pipes in the ground and converts it into heat within Wolds Way Lavender. The best way to describe how it works is to think of a fridge in reverse. The fridge works to cool down its inside and the result is that heat comes off the back of the fridge in the process. The Ground Source Heat Pump is trying to cool down our second car park and as a result the heat from the car park is transferred into the building. Sounds simple? It is, it has been used in Norway & Sweden for over 50 years. Whats more it can be up to 400% efficient. (The latest Oil / Gas boilers are around 90-95%) The Ground Source Heat Pump is working along side our Solar Panel installation and our Rain Water Harvesting system to ensure Wolds Way Lavender is a sustainable Tourist Attraction. |
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