Harvest time at Britain's largest lavender farm

The intoxicating smell and deep-purple colours are unmistakable.

But the lavender standing out against the blue sky is not in southern France but in a farm in Surrey just a few miles from London.

A worker gathers up bunches of lavender at the beginning of the harvest at Mayfield Organic Lavender, Surrey

Lavender has been grown around the small town Banstead for 300 years and yesterday was the start of the harvest at Mayfield Organic Farm, Britain's largest lavender farm, which stretches over 25 acres.

A girl runs through one of the fields, where lavender has been grown  since the 17th century