My quest for Lavandula started many years ago when I saw how much of it went onto the garden compost heap. I put a post on social media asking for unwanted lavender, where I would harvest and trim the plant, weed the bed and offer a gifty made with the lavender of the garden. I had lots of great responses and since then I have a network of 'Lavender Guardians'.

Several gardens in surrounding villages give up their lavender, and although my husband and I work very hard each autumn at getting it all hung in the barn, I do get an unlimited supply for free. This in turn enables me to donate to the rabbit rescues each year.

The first summer I had collected all this lavender, I had no idea what to do with it all. It is fortunate that all the stems were very long which inspired me to keep the magnificence of the stems as part of the finished item. This is when my lavender sceptres were created.

Their development was an obvious direction as I wanted to ensure the flowers weren't lost over time. The design concept came really quickly and although every stem is laid by hand it is very satisfying making these wands.