# Crabtree & Evelyn — Somerset Meadow

> Somerset Meadow is exactly what its name promises: an English-countryside green-floral built around the idea of a wildflower meadow in late spring. It is a transparent, inoffensive daytime fragrance f

## Essence
Somerset Meadow is exactly what its name promises: an English-countryside green-floral built around the idea of a wildflower meadow in late spring. It is a transparent, inoffensive daytime fragrance from a British bath-and-body house better known for soaps and hand creams than for serious perfumery, and it is best understood as a pleasant, well-made high-street release rather than an ambitious composition. What makes it interesting is that it breaks from Crabtree & Evelyn's reputation for powdery, old-fashioned florals: here the brand went green, fresh, and youthful instead.
## Scent Profile
The dominant impression is green freshness with a citrus-fruit sparkle on top and a soft floral middle. The opening reads as zesty bergamot cut with the tartness of blackberry, and many wearers compare the first minutes to lemon or lemon tea. As it settles, a grassy, slightly green-tea-like quality takes over, which several describe literally as "lying on the grassland."
The floral heart is gentle and somewhat indistinct. Water lily and ivy form a watery, leafy core that one reviewer singled out as the structural backbone — "Ivy, tender yet tenacious, and silken water lily are at the core of this scent, and remain from beginning to end." White florals and geranium fill in around them without any single flower dominating.
The base is light, clean white musk with a whisper of moss. This is not a fragrance with a dramatic drydown; some noses also catch violet and a galbanum-like green facet beyond the official notes. The overall texture is "clean without being soapy, green without being too sharp, floral without being overwhelming."
## Performance
Performance is the consistent weak point, as expected for a light EDT in this category — modest in both longevity and sillage. Most wearers report around three hours of wear, with one summarizing that "it does not last very long, but lasts for about 3 hours." A minority find better staying power and call its sillage "quite good," but the weight of opinion is that this is a soft, close-to-skin spring and summer scent you may want to reapply. Layering with the matching body wash and lotion is the standard way to stretch it.
## Wearing Context
This is a daytime, warm-weather fragrance for spring and summer — office-friendly and inoffensive. It is pitched as a safe blind buy, good for work, casual daytime wear, and anyone wanting something fresh and green without projection concerns. It skews feminine, but the green-citrus profile is mild enough to read broadly wearable. It is not an evening, cold-weather, or statement fragrance.
## Comparisons & DNA
Its most-cited reference is Chanel Cristalle, whose green, slightly bitter-citrus freshness invites the link — though Somerset Meadow is far lighter, simpler, and cheaper. One wearer also connects it to Yves Saint Laurent In Love Again, "in the softer, lighter and greener way." Within Crabtree & Evelyn's own catalogue, it reads as a green departure from older powdery florals like Persian Lilac and Evelyn Rose, and sits alongside the brand's other "place" releases such as Summer Hill and Nantucket Briar. These are genre and quality-tier anchors rather than soundalikes; Somerset Meadow is its own modest green-floral-fruity.
## Reception
Reception is warm but unpretentious. A launch-day review called it "a joy to wear, plain and simple," framing it as a celebration of simple pleasures rather than a complex perfume. It is well-liked as a pretty, easy green freshie: the recurring praise is its freshness and quality-for-price, and the recurring criticism is weak longevity and that some skins read "mainly floral" rather than the promised green. A few note disappointment that it isn't greener than the notes suggest. The overall sentiment is a charming, well-crafted, minor pleasure.
## Versions & Reformulation
A single composition with no known reformulations. The scent was sold across a coordinated range — eau de toilette (60 ml), a perfume gel, and matching bath-and-body products such as shower gel, body lotion, and hand cream — but these are format variations of one fragrance rather than separate formulas.
## Acquisition Notes
Discontinued. The brand's own upheaval frames its disappearance: a 2009 Chapter 11 filing closed many US stores, worldwide retail and wholesale operations ceased in 2019, the company relaunched online-only that July, and US website sales stopped in early 2022. Somerset Meadow is long gone from the active line but surfaces on the secondary market and clearance, where bottles have turned up cheaply. Because it was made in reasonable volume, surviving bottles are not rare or expensive, though the EDT's lightness means aged stock may have lost some of its already-modest top-note sparkle. Third-party "type" sellers market imitations; these are not the original juice. Buy on price, not as an investment.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- The name extends the brand's pastoral-English branding, drawn from the native crab apple and the diarist and early conservation writer John Evelyn.
- It marked a deliberate green, youthful departure from Crabtree & Evelyn's older powdery-floral reputation.
- A galbanum-like green facet and violet are often perceived beyond the official note list.
- The collection's cartons carried lush meadow illustrations while the bottles themselves were comparatively plain — a disparity shared with the Summer Hill and Nantucket Briar lines.