Gower Lavender is proudly a small, independent Gower business. Our range of handmade soaps, hand creams, pillow sprays, lavender hearts and lavender syrup is natural and eco-conscious without compromising on luxury.
The company is run by local couple Rae Howells and Phil Poucher. We’re passionate about natural ingredients and making sure our business is sustainable for the planet. We love bees. We love using local ingredients. And we love lavender.
What started as a few lavender plants in our garden has now expanded from a field overlooking the sea near Three Cliffs, to a corner of a meadow in Murton, a consultancy partnership with the National Trust at their lavender fields on The Vile at Rhossili, plus 1,000 plants in a large plot in West Cross. We also have exciting plans afoot to acquire nine acres of our own land.
We grow eight varieties of culinary lavender, from traditional purples like Munstead, Folgate, Maillette and Hidcote, to more delicate pink Rosea and white Edelweiss varieties. We also grow lavendula intermedia Grosso for its large, plentiful and late blooming spears. That means we have lavender growing from early May right through to October.
We are committed to a ‘bee kind’ method of growing and making – so our lavender is hand-weeded and watered with our (rather plentiful) Welsh rain. We don’t use pesticides or herbicides. And we harvest late in the growing cycle to give pollinators time to feed first.
Our soap-making takes a similar approach. We use quality, ethical ingredients like olive oil, shea butter and coconut oil, which we source from local suppliers. We support local businesses and producers by choosing great quality local ingredients such as Mumbles Brewery beer and Selwyn’s laverbread. We avoid palm oil and single-use plastic. Our packaging is unbleached kraft from sustainable forests, is printed using vegetable inks, and is fully compostable and recyclable.
Through 2022 and 2023 we expanded the business to develop new products including hand creams and pillow sprays. We also developed a line of soaps exclusively for the Oyster Gallery in Mumbles, and a range of honey soaps for Little Walterstone Farm in Penmaen.
Our latest product is a mini soap designed for holiday lets, and we now stock dozens of holiday cottages, AirBnBs and hotels around Wales. We have also developed a lavender syrup, made using our lavender by the team at Gower Preserves, and this is stocked by several local cafes and restaurants who use it in coffees and cocktails, notably Hoogah and On The Rocks.
In 2024 two of our soaps won Silver Medals at the Free From Skincare Awards, a prestigious Europe-wide awards for ethical and eco-conscious brands, as well as a Bronze medal for our labelling and a Gold for our digital presence.
We are stocked by almost thirty independent retailers across Wales, and are regulars at local farmers’ markets. You can usually find us at Uplands Market and Mumbles Market – check out our social media for the latest market dates. You can also order from us online and collect from our workshop in West Cross.
We hope you like our lavender products as much as we do. Please drop us a line or contact us and let us know what you think.
Rae and Phil
