Japanese tourists flocking to visit Britain's rapeseed fields

It could be any Japanese coach trip to Britain- except that this stop is to see the brilliant yellow of fields of rapeseed. The unlikely attraction is proving such a hit with Japanese tourists that a holiday company has started offering tours of the UK’s rapeseed fields. The firm started the tours after noticing how passengers on some of its coach trips would cram to the windows when passing the dazzling yellow fields to take photographs. It now offers trips to East Lodge Farm on the Gloucestershire – Worcestershire border, where visitors are allowed to walk among the crop. The tours are already proving popular. The target number of 20 farm visits this summer will be exceeded and 70 are planned for next year.

Each coach load – which usually has 49 tourists on board – is charged £49 by the farm. After a walk in the fields, the visitors are given a tour of the farm’s press and bottling site, where the crop is made into oil for the table. They then return to the bus to continue a tour of the region’s more traditional tourist destinations, such as Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford. It is part of a six day coach trip organized by, Miki Travel,that also takes them to Windermere, in the Lake District, Haworth, in West Yorkshire – known for its association with the Bronte Sisters – Chester, Liverpool, the Potteries and London.

Junko Daimon, 43, who visited the farm last week with a coach load of visitors from Osaka, said: “We normally stop at castles and old towns and villages. This is the only field we have stopped at and it is a nice change. It has been very popular – a beautiful sight.” Katsunari Okayama, 56, added: “I didn’t expect a sight like this. We expected it to be cloudy and grey.” Ayako Uchida, 48, added: “It is very beautiful. In Osaka, you do not see fields like this.” Ikuo Shibuya, director of Miki Travel, said: “We tell people the UK is a very colorful country. We wanted to do away with the grey, rainy image. That is the image that people have had of Britain, although that is now changing. “People are showing great interest in this tour. They like to come to England for the natural beauty now.”

The tours have a limited time frame, though, as the yellow flowers drop off around this time of year. However, after a gap of around three weeks, the visits will resume – when the farm’s linseed crop sprouts its blue flowers. The plant (Brassica napus), a member of the mustard or cabbage family, which derives its name from the Latin for turnip, rapa, provokes strong opinions among many in the UK. Its critics argue that it triggers allergies, requires too many pesticides and that its lurid color has robbed the summer countryside of its traditional, golden hue. This year has seen record levels of the crop cultivated in Britain, as a result of growing global demand. Around 735,000 hectares are being grown this year – up six per cent on last year – and it now covers around 17 per cent of the UK’s arable farmland.

There's a photo gallery here.