For the love of lavender - Ben Lomond Lavender

Shane Manners Wood’s uniquely local lavender has enhanced everything from five-star restaurant brûlée to upmarket gin, while also soothing cuts, burns and stings, and calming the soul.
Tucked discreetly beneath the Coronet Peak foothills, her Ben Lomond Lavender label has been quietly understated since Shane’s first plantings in 1999, and that’s just the way she likes it.
For her, growing lavender is a passion, which all began while the family took a break from years of a busy restaurant lifestyle in the late 1990s to live in the Far North for three years. Shane and her husband Clive Manners Wood were well known then for their Continental Restaurant, and Albert’s Nightclub – during the 1980s. Clive helped open Continental Restaurant in 1973 and bought the Ben Lomond homestead in 1978. They leased out the restaurant and homestead for those years while their children were little and took some time to enjoy the sea. “It was there that I really got into organic gardening and herbal medicine, which I studied while we were up there,” says Shane. “Those first plantings are now an acre (point four hectares) of lavender,” she says.
Her expansive lavender display gardens with their manicured ponds are a hidden gem and a peaceful oasis. Set amid a spectacular scenic backdrop, the Manners Wood’s beautiful 8.5 hectare property is popular for photo and wedding shoots, the gardens encased by iconic Wakatipu mountain views, taking in Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Walter Peak. The historic Ben Lomond homestead was built in the 1890s by the owners of the then massive 13,000 hectare Ben Lomond Station – a property packed with local history.
While Shane’s garden barn has been a haven for small boutique groups in the past, these days, visits to Ben Lomond Lavender and its tiny cottage shop on the property are by appointment only.
Shane’s organic lavender oil varieties have starred on everything from Air New Zealand first class to Millbrook Resort menus, and her lavender sprigs have added the winning zing to international competition cocktails. The global landscape has obviously changed these past few years with far fewer overseas visitors, but Shane’s many loyal local fans still beat the path to Arthur’s Point for their supplies of her organic range of essential oils. “People also just like coming here as it’s like Paradise, but we’re more of a boutique operation, not into mass groups or numbers,” she says.
She has more than 4000 plants on the property and regularly propagates for locals and landscapers too.
Changes in the market and more demand for the aesthetic of her lavender gardens as a backdrop means Shane harvests fewer plants so that people can enjoy their beauty. “I’m still producing about 10 litres of the organic oil varieties, about half what I was four years ago, as people want to walk through the lavender fields.”
Plants required for oil are cut from mid-January to mid-February. “We use a Japanese green tea cutter for this and we can cut a 50-metre row of lavender in a few minutes.”
The lavender is distilled in a custom made distillery powered by a wood-fired boiler. The volatile essential oil is released into the steam, then it’s cooled, and a separator turns the precious oil out on top, while the lavender water separates below. This makes an excellent room spray, can be put in household irons, and mixed with vinegar and a little detergent to make an organic cleaner. “We keep the oil for a year to mature, because, just like wine, it has high notes, mid-notes and low notes.”
While its uses are widely renowned as soporific for relaxation, lavender oil also has many medicinal applications. It’s a great antiseptic, great for bee stings and itchy bites, and has traditionally been used in hospitals to treat severe burns and heal scarring. More recently its culinary uses have added that special flavour profile to all manner of dishes, from lamb, chicken and salmon to sweet desserts. Even more recently it’s been shining behind the bar. The Spirits Workshop in Christchurch now uses Ben Lomond Lavender in its Curiosity Gin, and Shane’s lavender featured in the mix when a Blue Door barman used it in an international competition. Shane’s own lavender shortbread, biscuits and mouth-watering moist orange and lavender cake are a permanent winner with family and friends.
“Lavender perceptions have changed over the years, along with its awareness as a herb. It can be used in a multitude of ways. It’s just a beautiful plant,” she says. “It looks, smells and tastes good.”