With spring weather finally returning in the past few weeks and the sunshine warming up gardens, there’s one thing people have instantly noticed coming back this month: flies. The buzzing bluebottles and the flitting fruit fly pests are already bugging people this spring, and it’s surely only going to get worse when summer arrives in earnest.

But there is a clever trick to stop flies from flying into your house, which will actually make them simply turn around and buzz off in the opposite direction: planting mint. Mint is a cheap plant you can buy for as little as 60p - £1 in most supermarkets, and is very easy to plant and keep alive. 

You can either plant mint straight into the soil, or put in plantpots and keep it on your windowsill, either inside or outside the house.

You’ll want to target the mint at the key places flies might consider flying in: near to windows and doors. 

Flies hate mint, but this also works with lavender and marigold, according to Little Bird Organics.

They said: “Mint, lavender and marigold – plant these in your garden and have pots in your house to deter them from entering your property before they even make it to the front door!”

If you don’t want to plant mint - after all, they can spread like wildfire because they are so hardy - you can opt to make a peppermint oil spray instead.

The benefit of this is that you can respray whenever you need to ‘top up’ the repellent, but you don’t have to worry about keeping any plants alive.

According to essential oils store Nikura: “Like many other types of insects, you can use peppermint oil to repel flies as they tend to dislike the smell. Spraying it around the home can act as a deterrent, encouraging them to avoid it so they look elsewhere.

“One study offered a group of flies a choice between a candle with juice and a candle wick with juice and peppermint oil. In every instance, the flies kept away from the peppermint oil and instead chose the wick containing only juice. Another found that the use of peppermint oils on buffalos helped to significantly reduce the number of lice present on their bodies 3-9 days after it had been applied.

“Of course, lice are not flies, but it demonstrates how effective peppermint oil can be with other types of insects, which can make its deterrent properties transferable.”