Vicarious Tourism: Down on the Farms

So today V and E and I made good on our plan to have an outdoor sort of day. Since it was meant to be another nice and slightly chilly day (our only rain was a few sprinkles on the drive there), we headed over to Esher in Surrey to go to Garson's PYO Farm and Mayfield Lavender Farm.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Now, Garson's we've done before. In fact, I have to give our friends Dave and Juliana all the credit for this: when the Husband and I were living in London just before we got engaged, D&J invited us along for a pumpkin picking trip at a place Dave knew. So, we rented a Streetcar, met them at the Tube station in Wimbledon, and started off for Esher. Garson's was lovely, the weather was gorgeous, and we've been going back ever since. In fact, ever since I found out that they stock not only my favourite Gisela Graham Christmas ornaments, but Libby's tinned pumpkin puree as well (squeee!!!), it's been a mandatory family tradition to make a trip in mid-October.

After wandering around the main store and ogling the Orla Keily home collection, we meandered over to the Farm Store to bask in the fresh produce, eye-up the chocolates and fancy-pants sodas, and grab a requisite 3 tins of pumpkin. Mama needs to get her bake on.

Then, it was back to the car for a nice pack lunch; after which we drove around the PYO fields to take pictures. Yes, it seems a bit silly to go to a PYO field and not pick anything, but it's too early to bring back a pumpkin, and I didn't really need any ears of corn.

someone was very excited about the corn fields.

After that it was off to Mayfield. Though I'd be lying if I said that the journey was without its problems. Google Maps decided that it can't count exits on a roundabout which led to me making two wrong turns before getting us in the right direction. And let me just say, when you're 20 minutes off course about to drive into Surbiton with a screaming baby in the back seat and making a U-turn in front of the fuzz that's quasi-legal at best...well, you start to lose your cool a bit. But in the end, we made it all in one piece and were relieved to stretch our legs, breathe some crisp fresh air, and take an inordinate number of photos in the lavender.

E especially enjoyed running up and down the rows of lavender, one hand outstretched to smack the plants as he went by. Of course, occasionally smacking turned to grabbing and eating and I was really glad that lavender is edible.

All in all, though, with our coconut chocolate cookies from Garson's and a warming drink at Mayfield (oh yeah, not to mention to gorgeous scenery and weather), we had a fantastic day. If only I knew I could bring home a lavender plant and have it remain unmolested...

Nothing like some good quality time outside.

Ah well, until next time!