Mayfield Lavender Farm

Clapham Junction Rail Station-my first overground train adventure in England. I loved it as much as I do in Italy. Why can't we have trains that get you more than 7 miles?

haha...the one photo of me posing amongst the lavendar

My view from where I ate lunch under the big tree

By lunch I mean these lavendar cupcakes and a bag of crisps. I ended up scraping the lavendar off because I didn't like the taste or flower texture with my delicious cupcakes! (Yes, I ate two. don't judge. they were very tiny...)

These guys were everywhere! How I didn't get stung was beyond me. Especially because I chased these ones around for a photo.

A bee in my photo even. I think they swarmed me at this point after I had bugged them with photos so much.

Loved this lavendar bicycle

Liked the sign of course...

Pretty butterfly-even had some lavendar on him!

I'm not sure if they just got married or were just posing for photos, but they had a vintage white Rolls Royce and chauffeur, so I'm thinking they came right from the church.

Hydrangeas at Oak Park-yes I found these when I decided it was a good idea to walk back to the train station. 3 mile walk...oops

Cool trunks at a furniture store I stumbled onto on Banstead High Street (this was apprently not on the way to the train station, but the only signs I saw pointed to this road!)

Ok, I know the Union Jack is a little tacky, but I really liked this table. The handles are luggage handles!

Banstead's 'huge' Rail Station. First of all, it's no where near the city center! Secondly, there was no where to buy tickets or get information (like to ask what train do I take and when does it get here?). There wasn't actually anywhere for anyone to work there now I think of it.

Clapham Junction

So thanks to Pete sending me a link to some photos of Mayfield Lavendar Farm a few days ago, I decided to look into getting there. Luckily I had gotten the train times and everything from Clapham jJnction a few days ago, so when the "trusty" weather forecast said "sunny intervals", I decided to go for it. I left the house just after 9 and walked to Clapham South tube station. From there I caught the bus to Clapham Junction rail station. I was a bit early for the train I needed, but that was fine. I had no idea how long the first part of the journey would take me, and since the trains ran every hour, it wasn't a big deal. I caught the train to Banstead, and all along I had thought, well I can just ask the attendant at the train station where to go to get to these fields. They are apparently the only draw to Banstead. Well, there was no actual station much less, an attendant. So I saw a guy who was carrying camera equipment and kind of stalked him (ran after him a bit) and asked if he was going to the lavendar fields-and he was! Score! He knew where we had to catch the bus (which was good-we had to walk through a little wooded path that I would have never gone through), and he even had the bus times (good thing, because they only run every 47 minutes, not every 10 like in London), bus return times, and return train times mapped out.

So we caught the bus which dropped us most of the way, and then we walked along the side of the road the rest of the way. The lavendar was beautiful! Although I couldn't smell it much while I was there except where they were cutting it to sell in bouquets, now while I sit typing this, it's all I can smell. I stayed taking photos for about 2 hours or so. I only stopped briefly to eat under the single giant tree where everyone was picniking.

I had the bright idea of thinking that it really didn't seem that far from the bus station to the fields, so I decided to walk it back. The guy I rode the bus with told me it was over 2 miles, but I didn't believe this. Well, when you get lost 4 times, it's actually closer to 3 miles. After asking a number of people how to get to the remote train station (one ladies response on the Hgih Street-"Well Banstead train station is not exactly in Banstead. At least your walk will be somewhat downhill::nervous laugh::"), I finally found it. And found that I had just missed my trian by 5 minutes. The next one wasn't for another hour. Oh well, at least I was sitting down! The train ride was still great though. It has made me want to take more trains around, so we'll see where else I end up!