While walking in Pembrokeshire along the coastal paths recently, my daughter and I came across swathes of wild mint growing in the hedgerows near St David’s. There are about 14 or 15 species of mint growing in the UK, most of which have very aromatic leaves but I couldn’t be sure which hybrid this was: nevertheless, it was clearly thriving in the changeable damp conditions of the Welsh maritime climate. Peppermint is one of the few aromatics where plants grown in the UK, produce one of the highest quality essential oils available as it likes the cool, damp conditions. At Aqua Oleum we supply three different types of mint products: pure peppermint oil, organic peppermint oil (both from Mentha piperita) and spearmint flower water (Mentha spicata).

July has seen unprecedented heat waves and wild fires in the US and Canada while catastrophic floods hit Germany and Belgium in recent weeks. Late July also brought some very hot weather to the UK and early August is predicted to bringing more spells of strong heat. Although the sunshine is most welcome after our uninspiring spring and early summer weather, we only need to look at the extraordinary climatic conditions across the US West Coast to realize that extreme heat can also bring its own set of dangers.

In June I visited the Ventnor Botanic Gardens on the south coast of the Isle of Wight for the first time. These twenty-two acre subtropical gardens have an unusual climate which is more akin to the Mediterranean region which enables a wide variety of plants considered too tender for much of mainland Britain to be grown there. Many subtropical plants and trees benefit from the moist and sheltered microclimate of the south facing under-cliff next to the sea, an area which is virtually frost free. Scientists have been tracking the effects of climate change in the garden for over a hundred years which show that it is now about five degrees hotter than the rest of the UK. This makes it an ideal location to research the future effects of climate change in the UK as the temperature warms.