Our visit to one of the UK’s lavender fields has become an annual tradition now, and when Max asked me a few weeks ago if we could go, I was more than happy to head down to Mayfield Lavender. It was towards the end of June, so still a little early for the fields to be at their best, but I was confident they’d be in bloom enough to make it worth a trip.

I love the sweet smell of the lavender, the rows of purple stretching out ahead of you, and the sound of the bees buzzing away. It makes the perfect backdrop for some beautiful photos of my boys. And Max loves the tractor ride, so it’s a win win!

We arrived bright and early at 9am and were some of the first people there. As you can see, we were joined on this trip by Buzz Lightyear, and Max loved flying him up and down the lavender rows. I was so grateful to the lovely photographer who spotted me with Ben in the baby carrier, taking photos of Max, and offered to take one of the three of us. It’s rare for me to be in the frame unless John is around to take hold of the camera, and even more rare for me to love it as much as this one.

I was really hoping for some lovely ones of my boys together, but unfortunately Ben did not take kindly to being taken out of the baby carrier and wasn’t keen for photos. Only sharing a snack with Max made up for it!

As you can see from the different colours in these photos, the field was in different stages of blooming, with some parts looking really vibrant, and others still to bloom.

There was no way Max was leaving without his tractor ride, so we waited patiently until 11.15 for the first tractor ride around the fields.

We didn’t leave it there though! I was foolish enough to try to repeat the trip a few weeks later at Cotswold Lavender. Suffice to say that it was a very different trip, as Max was very put out that there was no tractor and proceeded to have an almighty tantrum. We took a few photos but left fairly quickly, which was a real shame as it was in full bloom and looking beautiful.