French sunflower season: Friendly faces everywhere

It’s that time of year when these sunny faces start popping up all over south west France. Throughout July and August you’ll see fields of them busily growing to provide seeds and oil. Nothing’s wasted - even the stems and leaves can go to make cattle feed.

There is a bit of an old wives tale that they turn their heads to follow the sun (hence the French name, tournesol or turn to the sun). When they are young the heads do track from east to west during the day, so there is a nugget of truth in there, but by the time they are flowering they are quite set in their way and direction.

Crops are rotated so the sunflowers don’t appear in the same fields each year. Each spring is a waiting game to see if this is going to be a year with sunflowers just over the garden fence or if we’ll have the pleasure of gently bowing silky heads of barley or the maize as high as an elephant’s eye.

We’re not ashamed to say we’re elated when we get a sunflower year! If you’d like these towering lovelies over the garden fence or just up the road, we’ve got thousands of country properties in rural areas for you to choose from.

Let us have your property spec and your travel plans and we’ll include sunflowers in the tour. Visit one of our agencies or give us a call. Our lovely team would be delighted to help.