I lived in Cyprus for about 7 years, it was a real turning point for me. Looking back it was the moment when I allowed plants to become the absolute focus of my work, and learning how to get the very best from them therapeutically became my mission. Mastering distillation was one skill learnt there which has allowed me to access the full possibilities of the plants that grow around me. Without that, our work in Sussex and then Harris would be so much less developed.
By the time I left I really understood what grew there, the tracks that I walked or drove every day became as familiar as the back of my hand. I knew every plant in every season. I'd look out for their return, delighting in their survival for another year. Their coming and going formed the flow of my year.
So when I was asked to develop a set of products for a new Spa in the Peloponnese, I jumped at the chance. It's a big job for us and working at such a distance is not easy, but the 27 products I've created for them from botanicals we have found in the Peloponnese are exceptional.
I suspected that I'd find many of the plants I'd known so well and used in Cyprus, and last year when I visited for a couple of weeks, in late April, so many of my favourites were available in profusion - Chamomile, Helichrysum, Thyme, Oregano, Cistus, the reddest Poppies, Mastica and Pines from which resin literally dripped.
Making region specific products is how I work, it's why the Harris Collection came about, I see what's available and then get to work turning it into something so much more than the sum of its parts. I'm constantly excited by what I find and how to extract the therapeutics, I always think that the products you need are growing within easy reach, and so it was here. A short walk up into the mountains around Hinitsa Bay on Sunday was a revelation.
In Harris I've learned to wait for the flowers to arrive in June/July, to experience that feeling of abundance, the moment that the blooms suddenly carpet the machair - Meadowsweet, Ladies Bedstraw, Harebells nodding on wiry stems, Red Clover filling the air with that sweet scent. It is breathtaking, and I find after months of winter driving rain and fierce winds, I absolutely crave it.
And now here in Greece in late April, as we drove south from Athens late into the night with everything but the scent hidden by darkness, I awoke to bright sun, 24C heat and the whole of the maquis awash with flowers. Deep red Poppies in large drifts beside yellow straw-like Helichrysum, bright pink wild Gladiolus and so many small starry flowered Allium subhirsutum. Spring in Greece is a plant lover's paradise.
Today high in the mountains, we visited a 5th generation beekeeper who showed us round the museum created by her father to celebrate bee keeping and Olive oil production of the region. We stood at the top of the valley and listened to the gentle buzz of contented bees, watched them feeding on Rosemary and Sage and then we tasted the honey and propolis. It was blissful. Talking to people who are so knowledgeable and committed to their work is always a pleasure. Glimpsing into their world for a morning is a reminder that what appears to be a simple life is very hard but rewarding work.
I was reflecting today that it is an absolute privilege to live in a place that has 75% of the world's machair (shale sand meadows), to experience those plants in full bloom year after year, often walking for hours without seeing another soul is a real salve for the soul. And now, how incredibly special to find myself walking the maquis with 4 friends and colleagues, before the tourist season, surrounded by so many of my favourite plants, planning, plotting and picking.
From machair to maquis - two of my most special places.
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Pelaponese ahh Greece! Yes everything we need, grows on our doorstep! Wow! today in Merrie England and Sussex, it was 20C very warm and sunny! A profusion of Blue ForgetmeNots, Dandilions, Pink Wild Geraniums, White Arch Angels, White Wild Strawberry Flowers are growing ‘on my doorstep!’ have a glorious time in Greece x