UK, Opium poppies

Years ago, in Andalucía, I saw a field of what I could only think were opium poppies. I had no idea! I thought they were all grown illegally in Afghanistan. Apparently not. Yesterday, walking on the chalky downs at Eartham, West Sussex, we saw clumps and fields of big pink poppies and fat green seed heads. Very pretty. Apparently they're all over the place, quite legal.
This is what the Kew Gardens website says:

Opium poppy

Opium poppies yield valuable alkaloids used as medicines. Medicines produced from opium poppies include morphine and codeine. Its cultivation and production is strictly controlled because opium poppies are also used to make illegal and highly addictive drugs such as heroin.

British opium poppies

In the nineteenth century opium poppies used to be grown in Surrey, Britain as a source of medicine.

Grow opium poppies

Opium poppies grow well in the British climate - why not try it? Most seed companies in Britain stock opium poppy seed, and the poppies should even grow from poppy seeds sold for cooking, though they may not have such attractive coloured flowers.

Legal cultivation

India is the only country that alows the legal production of raw opium on a large scale for export. Cultivation in India is confined to a few regions. Opium is harvested by making a cut in fruit capsules and collecting the milky sap that oozes from it.

Over-the-counter medicine

The pain-relief medicinecodeine is derived from opium poppies.

Anyway, here is my photo of the poppies.