Tasmanian lavender harvesting in undertaken in January of each year.

Originally the lavender was harvested by hand with sickles as is still done in other parts of the world.

In 1944, Tim Denny , a son of the founders, developed the first mechanical lavender harvester. After further research and development the present harvester was optimised in 1970.

This harvester can cut and deliver 2.5 tonnes of flowers per hour - the equivalent of 80 persons doing it by hand. The harvester operation packs the flowers, 250 kg at a time, into mesh bottomed bins ready for processing when delivered to the distillery.

The distillery, designed and built by the Dennys, operates three stills.

Steam is passed through the flowers causing the oil to vaporise. The vapour then flows to the condenser tubes, reverting to a liquid state where it enters the separator. After separation, the oil is stored in stainless steel drums where it will continue to improve for many years.

Whilst the majority of the crop is harvested for distillation, a proportion is cut and sun dried for the dried flower industry. It takes about 20 tonnes of flowers to produce 2 tonnes of dried flowers.

Our Bridestowe Lavender Oil is in high demand by perfumery houses and for high quality cosmetic and aromatherapy end users, where purity and absence of camphor is critical.

Most of the oil is exported but about 15% is retained for discerning domestic customers and for incorporation into our Bridestowe Estate, SPA and Lavender Lady product ranges.

When shopping for products look for the “B” symbol. This symbol assures the consumer that the products chosen contain only the highest quality oil, flowers or honey from Bridestowe Estate.