Our Farm
The first commercial Lavender Farm on The Wild Atlantic Way
The Seven Head's is the brain child of its founder and general 'dogs-body', Hugh Mullan. Born and raised in Co. Derry, Hugh was raised around great food and cooks, and was taught a love and respect for nature, the source of great ingredients.
It was this foundation that led us to purchase the farm in 2016, where began the transformation process. The concept was to create a visually unique location that promotes sustainability, wellness, friendship and an appreciation for local, seasonal Irish food and farm to fork principles.
Commercial lavender farm
As far as we know, we are the only commercial scale lavender farm along the entire length of the stunning Wild Atlantic Way. With no previous horticulture experience, we visited and met with owners of a multitude of similar farms across the UK, picking their brains for advice. As a result we planted six varieties of lavender, five of which seem to really like the location. And whilst our lavender is a haven for multitude wild bee and bumblebee species, we intend to host our own honey bees in the very near future.
No dig - Where the soil is cherished!
We have developed what may be a very rare horticulture practice in Ireland, in the we combine a 'polyculture' orchard system in conjunction 'no-dig' vegetable production. This was a system that we observed in travels to Germany. It is a great method for introducing diversity and also developing environments for beneficial birds and insects.
We brought in more than 150 tonnes of manure from local farms to establish or no-dig beds. This is an important practice, as it demonstrates the importance of building soil health. It is well known that soil health contributes significantly to the micro-nutrient quality in the final crop.
Committed to sustainability
We don't use any sprays or artificial fertilisers or additives on our lavender, fruit, flowers or herbs. As well as our over 5,000 lavender plants we have planted thousands of bee and insect friendly flowers, herbs, shrubs and trees around the farm, and continue on an annual basis to increase this number.
In terms of food product development and sourcing of ingredients, we have embarked on a sustainability commitment which hopefully will be recognised as industry leading in this country in the coming years. Watch this space.
