Lavender field 'being killed for social media posts'

Visitors have been told their quest for social media photos is killing lavender

A lavender farm has urged people to stop killing their plants by sitting on it for social media photos.

Hitchin Lavender posted a video on Facebook showing how plants at the Hertfordshire site had been destroyed by visitors who had sat or laid in the fields.

Director Tim Hunter told BBC Three Counties Radio that while he was grateful for all visitors, some "take that photo-op a bit too far".

He said: "I think they're looking for different pictures so they actually want to lie in the lavender itself without actually knowing they're destroying it at the same time, which is a bit of a shame."

Many visitors avoid the temptation to lay on the lavender

In the video he pleaded for visitors to not "kill our lavender".

The farm director said the plants take about five years to mature and the the rows of lavender have taken 10 years to cultivate.

The Hunter family have farmed on the land for more than 120 years. Mr Hunter's family planted the lavender in 2000 as a "semi retirement project".

Some of the plants in the field are 20 years old.

Mr Hunter said signs were advising people how to behave.

"We get more popular each year, which is great, as people take their pictures," he said.

"To destroy it for a 10 second photo is a bit of a shame."