I received a text from my friend Inge yesterday. It said: “When you drive into town this weekend, take the low road and see the poppies.” So, this morning, we drove into town (Henley-on-Thames) and saw this:
This beautiful field is planted as far as the eye can see with opium poppies. They are absolutely gorgeous, a sea of the most subtle, lovely lavenders and palest pinks.
These fields are planted as part of a research project by a local university in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry. For obvious reasons, they don’t advertise, and they plant somewhere different every year. Normally, these fields are planted with rapeseed and provide a burst of vibrant yellow late in the sumer. This field of pink was a fantastic surprise.
See the building and umbrellas in the distance of the top photo? That is Orwells, one of the best retaurants in England. It was impossible to resist having lunch there and soaking up the view. Here is the view from the garden at Orwells:
Pure heaven. The only thing as good as the view is the food!
Notice how Doug and I are both colour-coordinated with the flowers?
I hope that your day is as filled with colour and surprise. Tune in tomorrow for a knitting post.
I saw someone post on Facebook about this field earlier this week (I’m sort of local to Henley). Looks absolutely spectacular! I love Doug’s umbrella hat too! 🙂
Hi Jack! I didn’t realise we were neighbours! You should definitely drive by to see the field. Take the kids and a camera; it’s a fantastic photo op.
That field is beautiful!
You should see it in real life! It is breath-taking.
Wow, lovely!!!!
Wow is right!
The color coordination with the flowers? Whether planned or not, just awesome 😉 What a gorgeous field of flowers. I would love to know what you had to eat (any pics?).
Unplanned colour coordination. You should check out the menu. Orwells is a great restaurant. I didn’t take food photos. We ordered the menu – three courses plus extras. I had scallops, beautifully cooked and presented. They served me home-made gluten-free bread with fresh butter drizzled in their own honey. Doug had pork belly. The desserts – pana cotta with blueberry compote for me and lemon tart for Doug – were superb. Not to mention the sweet treats that came with the coffee. And the cocktails, and the lovely wine. All in all, a lovely day.
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Wow that’s so beautiful! Did you both dress intentionally to tone with them or accidentally. Looks lovely weather too.
It was the only day of lovely weather, sandwiched in between many grey days on either side.
What a lovely surprise! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful view 🙂 And how nifty about the research planting and how they have to move it around!
You’re welcome! I believe it has been stopping traffic all week.
What a beautiful sight! And you two were destined to see it/go there that day in those outfits! I have never seen opium poppies but love the ‘standard’ orangey/red we see everywhere this time of year (forgive my ignorance in not knowing the true name of this variety!). Driving in Kent recently we were on a stretch of motorway with a speed restriction and on the verges were swathes of lovely poppies to admire. Nature can be wonderful !