Delicious romps with the Secret Garden Club Christina became Kerstin's gardener after a sweet piece of serendipity. "I was booked in for a supper club with my husband," says Christina, "but he was ill so I brought my nine-year-old son instead. He struggled to sit through a long, drawn-out meal, so we spent a lot of the time in the garden and I realised what a wonderful space Kerstin had out here. They got talking about how the garden could be developed and now Christina works in the garden one day a week, and runs the horticultural side of the garden club. They make a great duo, both warm, engaging, funny women full of information and stories. Aware that they themselves are much of the attraction of the day, both dress stylishly for the occasion, too: Kerstin in a Fifties-style dress patterned with birds, and with a bird jauntily perched on her hair band, Christina in a flowery dress, wellies, straw hat and corn-on-the-cob earrings. There is a strong sense of theatre about the whole occasion. After that warming lavender hot toddy, Christina walks the group through Kerstin's extensive collection of culinary herbs: parsley both curly and flat-leaf ("curly is due a revival," affirms Kerstin later: you heard it here first), oregano, marjoram, fennel, dill, thyme, garlic chives, salad burnet, and more. At every stage Christina puts great emphasis on how to use the herbs: Japanese parsley has a celery flavour and is good in stir-fries; lemon balm works beautifully in a Pimm's. Knowing her audience, she keeps things culinary and aims her growing tips at the small-gardened and the balcony bound. Then it's indoors by the fire for the herb-based feast. Kerstin loves a theme (the remnants of a "Margaret Thatcher afternoon tea" held the day before are in evidence: Union Jack biscuits and iced biscuits with slogans "Out! Out! Out!" and "The lady's not for turning"), and the garden club gives her a whole new spark to her culinary creativity. We are served hot and sour coconut soup with coriander, mint and lemongrass; a pile of dill and tarragon to cover in lemon juice and salt and roll in lavash; blood orange, pomegranate and fennel pollen salad; sage and ricotta bakes; and bay and nutmeg ice cream sprinkled with basil and mint gremolata. "I like to serve things people might not have tried before," she says with almost comical understatement. It is a delicious and imaginative romp through the best possible reason to grow more herbs, and we all head off into the late-afternoon winter darkness, bellies full and cheeks aching, equipped and determined to do so. The recipes Lavender gin toddy Serves 8 100ml of honey Lavender sprigs 250ml of gin Juice of 4 lemons 250ml of hot water Heat the honey and lavender together gently. Leave to infuse for a couple of hours. Then warm up the gin, lemon juice, hot water (add more if you want the cocktail to be weaker) and add the honey and lavender. If it isn't sweet enough, feel free to add more honey. Lavash with herbs Lavash is a typical Persian flat bread. In the Middle East they have such an appreciation of herbs that they serve a plate of unadorned herbs including coriander, dill, parsley and coriander which you simply wrap inside the bread. 2 x 7g fast-action dried yeast 1 tsp sugar 300ml lukewarm water 450g strong white flour 1 tbsp sea salt 1 tsp olive oil Poppy seeds or sesame seeds Herbs to taste Mix together the sugar, water and yeast and leave to froth. Sift salt and flour into a bowl and add the oil. Mix all the ingredients together and knead for at least 10 minutes. Cover the bowl and leave to rise for two hours. Roll 40g balls of dough into circles or ovals. They should be fairly thin, about 5mm. Do them in batches. Just before putting them in your hottest preheated oven (240C/Gas 9), sprinkle over the seeds, pressing them in a little. Once you have enough to fill a baking tray, put them in for about seven to 10 minutes - they will puff up. Serve with bunches of dill, coriander, basil, flat-leaf parsley and wedges of lemon. Have a little jug of olive oil and a saucer of sea salt. Ricotta sage bakes 500g fresh ricotta 4 eggs Handful of torn sage leaves Olive oil or butter 2 tablespoons of crème fraîche Salt and pepper Oil or butter a muffin mould. Mix the ricotta, eggs, sage leaves and crème fraîche together. Season with salt and pepper. Scoop into muffin mould. Decorate with a sage leaf. Bake in a medium oven for 15 to 20 minutes until risen and golden around the edges. Check they are cooked inside with a metal skewer - if it emerges without too much runny gunk on it, they are done. Secret Garden Club events: March 18 Salad 365 days a year; April 22 The three sisters: squash, climbing beans and sweetcorn (marmitelover.blogspot.com/2011/07/three-sisters.html) Further dates will be announced on secret-garden-club.blogspot.com