Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly, lavender’s green,
When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
‘Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.
On our weekend jaunt to the Eastern Township region of Quebec, one of our stops was Bleu Lavande Farm. The farm is situated south of Magog, near the village of Fitch Bay, and the rural roads that take you to your destination offer a very scenic drive. The roads are quiet, winding up and down and around the hilly landscape and there doesn’t seem to be much traffic. It was a surprise, therefore, when we reached the farm and found the parking field filled with cars and a tour bus. Where did they all come from?
Even the view from the parking area is lovely. The Eastern Township region is very pretty.
We headed for the entrance. There is a gift shop where every imaginable lavender product is available for purchase, and if you want to give growing lavender a try, you can buy plants. I settled for a t-shirt in a beautiful lavender blue.
There are displays about how the lavender is grown and processed, but the main attraction is, of course, the lavender fields themselves.
You can walk all around the sweetly-scented fields or picnic at tables set along the edges. The farm was started in 1999. Lavender is borderline hardy this far north, and it took a few years to explore the best options for successful lavender production. In 2002, 50,000 of the 60,000 plants failed to survive the winter, a major setback. However, by July of 2004, the farm was able to open its doors to the public and received over 30,000 visitors.
Since then, the farm has gone from strength to strength and is now the second largest commercial producer of lavender in North America. By 2008, the farm was drawing more than 190,000 visitors. It was certainly a pleasant spot to visit on a beautiful late July afternoon. You can visit the Bleu Lavande website here.
Willow House Chronicles 