Bringing Joy to Life in Sussex

Fresh Lavender for Your Community

Bringing lavender to the hands and lives of your people — to help heal, restore and revive the sense of connection, purpose, community and wellbeing

Register Your Organisation Our Story

Sussex Lavender is a small lavender project nestled in the gentle hills of the South Downs National Park. Sussex Lavender is becoming a Community Interest Company on a mission to enhance the lives of people, share the wonders of lavender in healing ways, and preserve Sussex traditions for generations to come. Unlike other lavender farms, we are not open to the public — but a small meadow of lavender creating great change.

Using lavender, we are bringing love, joy and wellbeing to charities, care homes, Community Interest Companies and support centres that work for the wellbeing of the vulnerable and those who need it most.

Find out how →

Welcome

We're so glad you found Sussex Lavender: we are a regenerative lavender field supporting the ecology as well as feeding the local community from the heart of the South Downs.

A good year here means flowers in more hands, not a bigger margin. Everything we do comes back to bringing joy to the lives of people who need it most, and protecting, preserving and passing on lavender farming traditions to future generations.

For Organisations & Charities

From land to hand

At peak harvest we provide and donate fresh-cut loose lavender to organisations like care homes, hospices, wellbeing initiatives, His Majesty's Prison, food banks and other groups for therapeutic activities with lavender. Working hands-on with fresh lavender brings joy and excitement with the opportunity for creative activities. The calming scent brings wonderment to disadvantaged people.

Hannah Mae has 24 years' experience in healing therapies and a lifelong connection to this land. Her aim is to bring wellbeing opportunities to communities where it would be impossible to visit a lavender farm. We bring the magic of the farm to people's lives and give them the chance to restore something that has long been lost in our culture.

Register your organisation

Three ways to be part of it

Find your pathway

I.

Apply for a donation

Qualifying charities, CICs, refuges and shelters, or community projects can register to receive free fresh-cut lavender during the harvest season.

Register now →
II.

Events & Volunteering

Experience the meadow hands-on — collaborate with us, join a ticketed wellbeing day that helps fund the mission, or apply to our committed core volunteer team. To protect this fragile environment the field isn't open to the public; instead we run small group seasonal events each quarter, from spring cuttings to fireside winter crafting.

Volunteer opportunities →
III.

The Shop

We want to bring the traditions of lavender back into your hands — fresh or dried lavender, and traditional wares crafted by us and our community groups: artisan copper alembic oil, seasonal wreaths, activity kits. Every purchase helps put more lavender into the hands of the disadvantaged.

Visit the shop →

Our Story

A dream rooted in chalky hills
and bathed in birdsong

During challenging times, 2020 seemed the right time to plant a dream for a better future. We were kindly offered a piece of land to plant our lavender in the beautiful, gentle hills of the South Downs National Park. Sussex Lavender was born with a vision for a better world — one that would preserve nature and bring regeneration to the land, the ecology, and all generations, and restore Sussex heritage traditions.

Our approach to farming was key to ensuring that nature and people could not just survive but thrive, and that we could pass something on for generations to come.

Read our ethos

The harvest is the best part of our year, and we want the magic of the summer harvest to touch the lives of as many people as possible.

Hannah Mae Dawson & Sons

Walking through the lavender rows on the South Downs
Families harvesting lavender together at Sussex Lavender
The lavender field with the South Downs rising behind

Working Toward a Community Interest Company

A field planted to serve the people and bring joy back to life

We are working toward growing into a CIC — a structure that would lock our mission into the business itself, so that every decision we make is permanently committed to serving the community. The crop serves people first; commercial sales simply sustain that.

Joy is our currency

Not profit, not turnover. Success measured in hands that have held our flowers.

Community first

The crop serves the community; commercial sales exist only to sustain the mission.

Economically sustainable

Low overheads, high human impact. Every penny is reinvested in the field and our community projects.

Preserving the land

We are fundraising so the field can be preserved for future generations and become a haven on Earth.

How You Can Help

Help the field grow

Be part of our core committed team, contribute to the mission with your expertise or funding, or bring this to more people's lives through sharing.

Lend a hand

Join our committed core team — from harvest and charitable deliveries to key paid and permanent roles. Experience the magic through the seasons by being a committed monthly volunteer — we can only work with people willing to build on their own experience and skills.

Make a donation

Every gift, large or small, goes straight into growing and giving lavender to people facing real challenges. Even the smallest donation helps the mission grow.

Share our story

Photography, filmmaking or grant-writing experience — help us show the world what this field means and unlock funding for the future.

See volunteer opportunities Make a donation

Breathe it in and share the joy

Join our mailing list

Be the first to hear about harvest dates and what's growing. We'll write to share:

  • Future wellbeing experiences
  • Lavender immersion oil-making days
  • Mental health support opportunities
  • "Land to Hand" community events
  • New lavender revival products
  • Becoming a Sanctuary Patron

No spam, only lavender.

Thank you for your interest. We wish you harmony, and the soothing touch of our lavender in your life.

Hannah Mae Dawson & Sons