Coming to a shop near you.

Flax Linum usitatissimum, also known as linseed, is a food and fibre crop that is grown in cooler regions of the world. Flax fibres are taken from the stem of the plant and are two to three times as strong as those of cotton. The seeds are used as a source of food and oil.

In Normandy the flax harvest is now in full swing. The flax has been cut in neat swathes and left to dry in the fields. By this time next year the fibre will have been woven into smart linen clothes, the seed will be in your breakfast cereals or fed to cattle, and you will be using its oil to condition your cricket bat.