The Sweet Smell of Lavender

Wednesday we drove to the Bridestowe Lavender Estate.  We saw a commercial for it the day before and decided to go.  I wasn't thinking it would be all that interesting, but it really was!

The Lavender Estate has been around since 1922.  The fields contain about 650,000 plants.  The plants flower beginning in December and the harvesting of the flowers begins in January.  Some of the flowers are sun dried and some are sent to the distillery to be processed for lavender oil.  A liter of lavender oil can be sold for $500. 

We walked around the fields and saw these giant oak trees.

These oak trees were planted in 1881.  We went in the visitor center and looked around the gift shop.  There were all sorts of lavender soaps, sachets, and candles.  We went down to the distillery to see the oil being made.  We also went to the cafe and ate some food flavored with lavender.  We had lavender and blueberry pancakes with lavender ice cream, lavender scones, and lavender tea.  This was another uniquely Tasmanian experience.