Bandon's sea of golden daffodils

A  75-ACRE Bandon daffodil farm is enjoying a bumper season and is on target to pick eight million flowers by early April. 

West Cork Daffodils at Littlesilver, outside Bandon, said they’re seeing more flowers than in recent years, thanks to our very mild winter.

Sales manager Ollivier Chédhomme said that their daffodils started to flower before Christmas, in line with previous years. 

However, what is exceptional this year is the vast quantity of blooms they’re seeing on their land, he said. ‘Every degree increases extra growth, so we’ve had ideal growing temperatures.’ 

Barring any major weather incident, the business, owned by Brian Perrott, expects to pick 800,000 bunches of 10 flowers each between now and early April.

The flowers, picked by 25 pickers, are mainly exported to Holland, Poland and Austria; as well as being distributed locally to retailers such as SuperValu and Centra. 

‘We are spreading our wings more every year,’ said Ollivier.