In the sixteenth century the small market town of Hitchin was one of only two major Lavender growing areas in the country.  At its height in the nineteenth century a hundred acres were grown around the town and it soon became renowned nationally, although the work was incredibly labour intensive.  Each lavender field could continually produce abundant crops for five years before they needed to be uprooted and burned, providing a fragrant and captivating aroma that blew across the whole town.

The first picture * shows Harry Perks chemist shop set up in 1860 through a collaboration with another successful lavender farmer Charles Llewellyn.  Mr Perks started a thriving local business and the shop remained until 1961.  The interior was rebuilt in Hitchin Museum where it remains today.

*Images reproduced with the kind permission of Hitchin Lavender. Information from Hitchin Museum and ‘The Story of Lavender’ by Sally Festing.