Poppy fields in Normandy (France) – Travel diary

It’s poppy season! While driving around Rouen, JB and I came across this absolutely incredible field of poppies, like in a dream.

I wanted to bring back 2 poppies to use as templates for my paper flowers, but we were having trouble finding a place to stop and pick them. And then we saw this field, absolutely beautiful, on the road between two small villages. I think it is a field left fallow, invaded by wild plants and flowers, to the great delight of the bees.

This is the first time I have seen such a beautiful field in real life.

And then, a little further on, at the edge of a wheat field, the poppies are just as numerous and very beautiful.

I tried to bring back a few poppies, carefully kept in a vase filled with water… but unfortunately their beauty is so ephemeral… I was only able to save the poppy capsules, which will serve as a model for me. Since then, I have found a trick: as soon as the harvest is picked, the cut end of the stem must be burned so that the juice coagulates. It is also advisable to pick the buds instead so that it lasts longer.

With this, I could make my poppies in crepe paper, they are less pretty than the real ones but will surely last longer, here they are (they are available for sale, contact me if you are interested)

Next stop : Pont-Audemer, nicknamed “the little Norman Venice”