Tag: Garden of Delights

A fragrance fit for the King’s birthday… how King Charles bottled the scent of his favourite garden

Prior to becoming King, Charles III asked Penhaligon’s to capture the scent of his favourite silver lime tree, in Highgrove Bouquet – a beloved tree of his, which lives in the garden of Highgrove, and which he can see (and smell) from his bedroom window there. With this weekend marking his birthday, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that his Highness could be reaching for this happy-making scent to celebrate, don’t you think? Let’s follow the fascinating fragrant evolution of the fragrance’s journey, from concept to completion…

Captured quite literally (using Headspace Technology) the linden blossom in Penhaligon’s Highgrove Bouquet glides through a breeze of mimosa, cedar, and citrus. It’s a radiant delight to wear at any time, of course, but really comes into its own when wafted forth during the summer – the very season it seeks to capture in scented form. Incredibly, this wasn’t a mere ‘inspired by’ project. Highgrove Bouquet was actually created with HRH The Prince of Wales, in part as a tribute to the magnificently fragrant summers he’s spent at Highgrove Gardens.

 

 

As Penhaligon’s explain: ‘At a certain time of year, that floats between July and August, at a discreet Cotswolds location, the Tilla Petiolaris, also known as the weeping silver lime, releases a distinct fragrance, much to the pleasure of the bees. Highgrove Gardens is decorated with these elegant deciduous trees, with their silver lined heart-shaped leaves, flecked with yellow sprays of flowers that delicately perfume the air; not only outside, in the grounds – but also inside the House! Planted close to Highgrove Gardens, when the days are warm, and the windows open, the rooms are filled with what can only be described as the smell of earthly sunshine. Created in close collaboration with The Prince’s Foundation, Penhaligon’s is delighted to present the forthcoming launch of their new fragrance, the Eau de Parfum Highgrove Bouquet. A fragrance that is as uplifting as it is sun-filled and radiant.

 

 

 

 

It is a time when the odour of blossoming weeping silver lime fills the air, and Highgrove Gardens is full of its branches, with their blooming, uplifting, floral notes. Penhaligon’s is proud to present this unique collaboration with The Prince’s Foundation for the creation of a fragrance as natural as it is elegant as it is warm. The proceeds of the fragrance offer an exciting new way to raise money in support of The Prince’s Foundation, with ten percent of proceeds to help fund the charity’s training and education programmes including those in heritage crafts, traditional arts, horticulture, fashion and textiles, and sustainable food and farming for thousand of pupils and students each year. His Royal Highness has been an active and passionate advocate for sustainability for over 50 years. In line with his environmental vision, this project has been developed in a way that is mindful of the need to respect the planet, replacing plastic with 100% recycled and recyclable paper and sugar cane eco-foam, and printing using all organic ink, free of mineral oils.’

 

 

 

 

Why not try a sample of Penhaligon’s Highgrove Bouquet to make the most of summer (if it’s actually started yet, weather-wise?!) And while you’re at it, why not treat yourself to an entire wardrobe of verdant and flora-bundant fragrance samples via The Garden of Delights Discovery Box? We know that gardens help us to feel renewed _ and goodness knows we could all do with some renewing right now –, so whatever you’re celebrating, The Perfume Society have curated this collection of vibrant, bright fragrances, so everyone can feel the rejuvenating benefits of gardens in every single spritz.

 

 

Garden of Delights box

 

 

The Garden of Delights Discovery Box is priced £19 + p&p to VIP Club Members & £23 + p&p to everyone else – be sure to log into your account to take advantage of the special VIP Club price. Inside, you’ll find this amazing line-up of scents…

Adscenture Secret Garden 2ml eau de parfum
Cosmoss Sacred Mist 1.5ml eau de parfum 
EauMG Rockin Rose 2ml extrait de parfum
Floral Street Sweet Almond Blossom 2ml eau de parfum
Granado Jardim Real 1.8ml eau de parfum
Juliette has a gun Magnolia Bliss 1.7ml eau de parfum       
Mizensir Vert Empire 2ml eau de parfum
Molton Brown Heavenly Gingerlily 1.5ml eau  de parfum
Penhaligon’s Highgrove Bouquet 1.5ml eau de parfum 
Shay&Blue Amber Rose 2ml eau de parfum 
Versace Dylan Purple 1ml eau de parfum
Yardley London English Rose Body Mist 200ml
SBC Arnica Moisturising Gel 100ml

 

 

Fragrant Reading for Holidays (& Long Weekends): Secrets of the Lavender Girls

For the Bank Holiday (or any travelling you might be doing in the next few weeks) we’d love to suggest you browse our brilliant Fragrant Reads shelf of scent-themed tomes. There’s truly something for every taste! But this weekend we’re sitting back and relaxing with a novel: Secrets of the Lavender Girls.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the fascinating fragrant backstory behind its creation (and the true story that inspired it…)

 

In the book, author Kate Thompson tells the tale of the women who worked at the Yardley factory during the war. But it turns out some of the stories she discovered during her research were even more incredible…

 

 

‘I love archives and libraries,’ Kate Thompson shares on her Facebook page. ‘Carefully untying the cream ribbon of an old file and catching the scent of 80-year-old dust motes is a thrill. More than once I’ve found hours can slip away leafing through yellowed newspaper reports and witness accounts from the Second World War in the silence of a reading room…’

Revealing her passion for research, and the extraordinary stories she found during her time writing The Secrets of the Lavender Girls, Kate says that ‘nothing beats what historians calls ‘Primary Sources’ and what I prefer instead to call ‘Magnificent Women’.’

 

 

The utterly charming novel follows the fragrant history of Yardley, and the remarkable stories of the women who worked there. Though a fictional account, Kate’s genuine fondness for the real life women she found (and who shared their tales with her) truly shines through.

Unravelling the stories of the real-life women who worked at Yardley during the war, she received ‘a beautiful handwritten letter in the post.’

‘I was a wartime lavender girl, I read about your book in a magazine,’ wrote Joan Osborne. ‘Yardley was the most wonderful years of my life. I am now 91.’

The letter was from Joan, who’d desperately wanted to work at Yardley, telling Kate: ‘It must have been the glamour. I remember travelling from Stratford to Ilford on the bus and the conductor opening the window so everyone could smell the lavender blowing from Yardley. Carpenters Road, or Stink Bomb Alley was famous for its smells. Seven different types of air flowed down there depending on which way the air was blowing. I can still smell the lavender,’

 

 

 

Kate learned Joan was sent to work in the top floor perfumery department where she was given a broom to sweep the floor. ‘I thought, “I haven’t come here to sweep floors” so they moved me to bottle-filling where I was putting the skin and caps on bottles. They were losing so many girls to the services I don’t think they wanted to lose anymore, so they kept me sweet. I earned eighteen shillings and something a week and my clocking in number was 157. I’ve still got the card.’

 

‘They were dangerous times, especially when the flying bombs started up, but being young I didn’t think that much about it. I was more upset by how cold it was in the factory, the heating was rarely on and we were always freezing. They used to give us cups of Oxo to warm us up. Least the room always smelt lovely from the lavender, freesia and April violets perfume.’

 

 

You can read more of the remarkable back-story of Joan and her fellow Yardley girls in Kate Thompson’s touching reflections on researching the book. But we cannot urge you enough to go and buy the book itself – and even better, read it while wearing one of Yardley’s classic fragrances (still proudly in production!) for an extra fragrant waft of history.

 

 

P.S: There’s a stunning FULL SIZE Yardley scent of English Rose included in our recently launched Discovery Box, The Garden of Delights. A blooming marvellous collection for only £23 / £19 for VIPs, which we know you’ll also love exploring to make the most of these last days of summer, too…

Written by Suzy Nightingale