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Bumper crop as sunflowers do 'amazingly well'

Debbie Tubby,at Westgate Farmand
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
News imageShaun Whitmore/BBC A field of sunflowers. The picture has been taken at an angle with the right hand of the picture being the closest to the camera. A sunflower with yellow petals and a brown seeded centre sits among a row of dwarf sunflowers.Shaun Whitmore/BBC
Michael Landale says this is the best crop of sunflowers the farm has seen in five years

Despite scorching temperatures and tinder-dry conditions, a Norfolk farm has reported having its best crop of sunflowers for five years.

Alongside barley and wheat, Westgate Farm, in the village of Walsingham, grows 30 acres of sunflowers.

And it has been surprised by the sheer number of sunflower heads, which are picked by visitors or harvested and turned into bird feed.

"They should be about a foot taller, but we can't change the weather. They have done amazingly well for the lack of rain," said Michael Landale, the tenant farmer.

More stories on Norfolk wildlife:

News imageShaun Whitmore/BBC A very tall sunflower stretching above rows of other sunflowers. This particular flower stands up due to it towering above the rest. All the sunflowers have a brown seeded centre with yellow petals surrounding it. The picture has been taken on a sunny day with a blue cloudy sky above.Shaun Whitmore/BBC
Michael Landale says the field has so many flowers, the ones people choose to pick do not "make a dent" in their supply

The sunflowers are the dwarf variety and usually grow up to 5ft (1.5m) tall.

Landale said: "The hot weather we have been having has really helped them grow — the hotter the better.

"But we do need a little bit of rain and these haven't had a huge amount of rain. They had about 12mm in early June but since then, they have had absolutely nothing.

"Although they are a bit shorter, the heads and the counts of flowers we've got I would say are the best we've had in five years."

News imageShaun Whitmore/BBC Michael and Sophie Landale, tenant farmers at Westgate Farm in Walsingham. They are both looking directly at the camera and are smiling. They are both standing among their 30-acre sunflower field. Michael is on the left and is wearing an olive green short-sleeved polo shirt. Sophie, on the right, is wearing a pale blue shirt, with a number of necklaces round her neck and has a pair of sunglasses rested on her head.Shaun Whitmore/BBC
Michael and Sophie Landale said some visitors use the sunflowers as the perfect backdrop for a wedding proposal

He added: "Pick-your-own doesn't really make a dent in it."

Sophie Landale said: "[Pick-your-own] is a great way to bring people onto the farm. It's an amazing experience for people to walk round and connect with nature and be able to see something on such a large scale."

News imageShaun Whitmore/BBC A close up of a sunflower with a brown seeded centre and yellow petals. The flower is one of many in a row in a field at Westgate Farm. The picture has been taken on a sunny day with a cloudy blue sky in the background above the crop.Shaun Whitmore/BBC
The sunflowers are harvested in October and sold for bird feed
News imageShaun Whitmore/BBC An aerial view taken by a drone of a 30-acre field of sunflowers at Westgate Farm in Walsingham. The picture is a sea of yellow petalled sunflowers which are hard to individually make out because there are so many.Shaun Whitmore/BBC
The sunflowers are grown across 30 acres

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