Countryman's Diary; The uses of lavender are legion

I am not sure whether the scent of this distinctive plant does genuinely have any kind of soporific or calming effect upon humans, but there used to be a belief that it did cause animals, even those as ferocious as lions and tigers, to become docile.

In the Middle Ages, cushions and pillows would be stuffed with lavender, partly because its lovely scent helped to conceal many of the rather more unpleasant smells of that era, but also because it kept insects away. And people would rub themselves with a tincture of lavender to keep away lice!

For similar reasons, our ancestors made good use of little bags of dried lavender to make wardrobes, drawers and linen cupboards smell fresh and also, I recall, to keep moths away, and I've heard of people placing it in dog kennels for fleas. For all these uses, a good regular supply of fresh lavender was necessary, and so it was grown in cottage gardens, not merely as a pretty flower but also as a very beneficial plant.

For all its associations with England, it did not originate in this country but appears to have been brought here from the Mediterranean regions. One theory is that the Romans introduced lavender to these islands because their soldiers carried it as part of their travelling first-aid kit.

Apart from being an antiseptic, it was used as a healing agent as well as for deterring insects, but in keeping with modern ideas they liked to use it as a perfume in their baths and it was also burnt to honour their pagan gods.

In spite of its introduction by the Romans, it seems that lavender did not become fully appreciated in England until some members of our nobility ventured overseas in the 16th century, and returned bearing lavender plants for their estates and gardens. They found some in the Canary Islands as well as other Mediterranean countries, and it is known that lavender grew in Hertfordshire around 1568.

It was never considered to be a truly commercial proposition until 1823 when lavender fields appeared in parts of Kent and Surrey.

Women were employed to harvest the lavender when the flowers were in bloom, the best time being when the sun had been shining upon them all day. They used large curved knives to strip the flowers from the plants, leaving them on their own slender stalks, and these were sold to pedlars and hawkers who divided them into small sheaves and re-sold them in the streets of our cities.

The lavender sellers used their own cry in the streets:

Won't you buy my sweet, blooming lavender

Sixteen branches for only one penny;

You'll buy it once, you'll buy it twice

It makes your clothes smell sweet and nice.

The fragrance of lavender is contained in an oil which is found in tiny glands at the base of each floret.

This is not easy to abstract; the amount and quality depends on the variety of the flower and the amount of sunshine it has received. Harvesting lavender in a large-sale basis is difficult. Most of it is still gathered by hand, but the perfume industry has been using this oil since 1770, though it is believed the world's first perfume was lavender water made in the 14th century by a German nun.

With some 70 varieties of lavender, there are numerous formulae for making products from the plant, many being closely-guarded secrets, and some date from the Victorian era when lavender was highly fashionable. Sprigs were tucked beneath hats to cure headaches, it was placed on dining tables to perfume the room and increase one's appetite, herbalists produced a host of curative recipes and, of course, it was popular in linen cupboards and beds to ensure they were always fresh and pleasant.

Some country women washed their bed linen in water distilled from lavender flowers, and lots made lavender bags for domestic use. The flowers were gathered on their stems, preferably after a long sunny day, and were spread on a newspaper or shallow tray to dry in a cool place. This could take a few days. When the flowers were dry, they were removed from the stems and packed firmly in soft muslin bags, sometimes with other herbs such as mint or thyme, and sometimes with a sprinkling of ground cloves and caraway. Some lavenders are now being used as additives to foods such as jam or for flavouring meat dishes.

Lavender is still grown comercially - there are huge lavender crops in Provence while England boasts a successful lavender farm at Headlam in Norfolk, along with the new and popular Yorkshire lavender farm at Terrington, near Malton.

Bird visitor

In recent months, we have been fortunate to welcome more than 40 varieties of wild bird to our garden. These range from bluetits to house sparrows by way of pied wagtails, assorted members of the finch family, spotted flycatchers, a green woodpecker, some very tame blackbirds, a robin and a wren, a tawny owl and even a hunting sparrowhawk.

This week, however, we had a bonus. As we enjoyed an outdoor lunch, we spotted a large bird of prey soaring high over the fields in the valley below us. It was circling over the landscape and in spite of very few wing movements, it was moving with incredible speed. I could not identify it because of the distance, but the moment I realised it was fast-approaching the sky above our garden, I rushed indoors to get my binoculars.

Even within those few seconds, it had arrived above our garden, a silhouetted bird of prey which, with the sun behind it, appeared to be dark coloured.

I looked for other markings or some variation in the colours of its plumage, but the brightness of the sky prevented me seeing any. And then it was mobbed by a crow which appeared almost from nowhere and began to harass it, but this made me realise that the hawk was far larger than the crow. This was no hovering kestrel, and I wondered if it was a buzzard, but it lacked the fingered wingtips of the latter. Buzzards do sometimes hold their wings flat so that the fingered wingtips disappear, and for a time I thought it was this species.

I listened for the familiar mewing sound of buzzards, but there was none.

Puzzling over the bird's identity, I saw it close its tail as it soared in those huge circles, totally ignoring the activities of the crow - and then I could see the tail was forked, but only slightly. It was not a deep fork, such as a swallow might boast, but on a par with that of a housemartin.

As I battled to keep it within the range of my binoculars, it soared over the house and by the time I arrived at the other side of the building, it had gone, doubtless heading across towards the bulk of the North York moors, still with that angry crow in close attendance.

Even now, I am not 100pc sure of my sighting, but the forked tail makes me wonder if I had seen one of the red kites which had been so recently released into the wild. Had the sun not been so bright, I might have noticed the white patches on the underside of its wings, or even its pale coloured head, but I cannot claim to have done so. But it was a striking moment and a fascinating interlude at lunch time.

Old map

Following my notes about an old map which has come into my possession, I have had some response. A Bedale man tells me it could be a 1610 copy of a John Speede map, and this is confirmed by a caller from Sessay, near Thirsk, who believes it is a reprint of the original and probably from the Theatre of Empire of Britain series. A Norwegian correspondent refers to the word flu, which accompanies river names on that old map, and tells me that in Norway, flu has much the same meaning as flood does here.