A farm near Abingdon has opened Oxfordshire’s biggest ‘pick your own’ sunflower field with the hope of raising thousands for charity.

The four sisters who run High Lodge Farm, which covers 400-acres of land in Culham, near Abingdon, opened the ‘pick your own’ (PYO) sunflower field earlier this month.

Emily, Katy, Lucy and Jess Allen are running the flower fete on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturday and Sundays each week until early September.

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Entry to the field is £1 per person, all of which will be donated to Thames valley Air Ambulance.

With nine acres of sunflowers – the equivalent of more than six football pitches – the field has become a sea of yellow.

Farmer Lucy Allen drilled the sunflower seeds in May.

Ms Allen, 36, said: 'Last year's crop was really badly impacted by the heatwave and lots of pesky pigeons so we were pretty nervous about this year's planting. We're delighted to say they have shot up with all the mixed weather we've had."

The organic sunflowers have taken approximately 100 days to grow and will reach between 5ft and 6ft tall.

Ms Allen cultivated the ground before drilling them and sprayed them with some organic silicone which acts as a natural fungicide, in line with the farm's focus on regenerative arable farming.

She said: “The sunflowers will encourage bees, hoverflies and other pollinators over the summer and early autumn, while birds will enjoy grazing on the seeds too.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1