About us
Ridge & Furrow
Ridge & Furrow was set up as a family enterprise in 2019. It was a project to put to productive use, our pasture land which was no longer needed for grazing cows.
We considered a range of different options including a vineyard, but decide that lavender would be the right answer for us.
It is a fantastic crop for a diverse insect population from bumble bees & butterflies to beetles & spiders. It also produces a wonderful crop which has so many different uses.
The field is just 3 acres & not all is suitable for lavender. The land rolls due to the traditional ridge & furrow farming technique which is still visible today & gives us our name.
We were complete novices at this endeavour at the start & so we began with just 1 acre and 3,000 plants, planted in rows north to south to take advantage of the arc of the sun.
Having tested the soil & with a few years of growth to judge the potential we can see that the land is well placed to deliver great results; though the exceptionally wet winters has led to some losses.
The Land
The Family
In 2010 Carolyn & Peter Koch de Gooreynd moved to Yarn Hill Cottage with their 3 children Tamara, Luke & Anthony. Though a tiny cottage, the property had a large garden, a woodland glade and a 3 acre field which we fell in love with immediately.
Having a full time job and with the field in use for grazing or hay making, it wasn’t a priority to make something of the land. But when the cows stopped coming we started to think about what else we could do.
We had some great family discussions about growing pigs or developing a vineyard for Peter’s love of wine, but inspired by Provence and a useful dose of practicality about the amount of time we had to dedicate to the idea, we settled on lavender.
Since then everyone has put their shoulder to the wheel, designing, digging, planting, harvesting and much more so that we can truly say that this has been a family effort.