Norfolk Essential Oils produce a wide-range of English Essential Oils.

Our policy is to offer pure and natural products grown and distilled by the farmer members of the co-operative.

NEO is able to provide a full history to all operations carried out on its oils from 'seed to bottle' thus assuring the customer of a product produced to a high standard. Testing of all oils produced from each field is carried out by an independent laboratory with a wealth of experience in essential oils; here the gas chromatography and aroma evaluations are produced which are available with all our oils.

Policy

Our policy is to provide a wide range of the highest quality essential oils that can be produced in England for an increasingly discerning market especially in aromatherapy and cosmetics, where provenance and assured quality are paramount.

We sell oils grown and distilled by the farmer members of the co-operative.

NEO is now able to offer English distilled oils produced by the steam distillation of raw material imported from overseas along with a range of high essential oils produced by other high quality distillers from around the world.

Farms

Each grower has a proportion of their farm cropping Aromatic Herbs. This ensures the kind of attention to detail that these specialist crops require.A great amount of hard work goes into keeping the crops free from weed contamination during the growing season. This is very important and with all the farms being working family units the labour to carry out these operations is readily available. Since the first years of production back in 1996 each year has seen new improved techniques of growing and harvesting which in turn produces high oil quality and productivity of the group.

Distilling

In addition, the Co-op owns and runs its own purpose built steam distillation plant. For the 2003 harvest this plant is moving from the Worlds End Farm at Nordelph to Pates Farm Tipsend, Welney which will become the centre of production for the group. The still was built by Mec-A-Tec Ltd a local engineering company with many years experience in the food handling industry, using food grade stainless steel. Each year extra capacity is added to the still site to enable us to meet the continued demands for quality traceable products by our customers. The still is possibly the largest of its type in the UK and its design will enable NEO to process many different oils well into the new millenium.

In Production

Currently In full commercial production as English Grown and distilled are English/Roman Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), German or Blue Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Angelica Root and Seed (Angelica archangelica), Rosemary (Rosamarinus officinalis), English Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Clary Sage (salvia sclarea), Dill Herb (anthum graveolens), Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), Lovage (Levisticum officinale), English Melissa (mellisa officianalis), Dark Blue English Yarrow and Light Blue English Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).

The Future

Other crops are continually in development - a great deal of research takes place before we can be sure that a top quality essential oil can be produced with English weather and soil conditions. We also have a policy of listening to the requirements of potential customers. Many people are surprised by how many aromatic herbs will flourish in our climate, indeed the long daylight hours of Summer in the UK contribute to the particularly fine and complex aromas that, for example, both English Chamomile and English grown Lavender are renowned for. We continue to invest in our distillation facility and with the move to a purpose built building at Pates Farm we will be able to add more distillation equipment to develop further the already increasing lines of products on offer.

In Development

In development, and due to come on stream this growing season (2003), are Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Helichrysum (Helichrysum italicum), Catnip (Nepeta cataria), Valerian root (Valeriana fauriei) and Sweet Marjoram (Origanum marjorana). These oils will be available for sampling by our many customers old and new for evaluation after distillation this autumn. We have always grown a small proportion of lavender but now have specialised growers joining us to specifically grow this crop and enable us to meet the increasing demand for this wonderful oil.