The allotment has come on a treat. What was once a mass of brambles, nettles and weeds, has been hoed, raked, dibbed and dug into rows of neat, raised beds. And in those beds things are growing. I realise of course that all plants grow from the soil in this way. But when you see it for yourself, when you plant the seeds and the shoots appear and then within a few weeks they’re chest high, it’s like magic.

I can’t take credit for the allotment. Well, I did help to move a tonne of Fairfield Compost and several barrow loads of manure and chicken poo. But apart from that I haven’t been down there very much. The allotment is Lord Levy’s thing and he does it well.

Last week we had our very first meal with home grown produce. Freshly picked sugar snap peas. (I don’t count last year’s potatoes.) And they were lovely. Every bit as good as I’d thought they’d be. Fresh, sweet and I’d like to say crunchy but unfortunately I was cooking that night and just slightly overdid it with the steamer. But this did not detract from the taste.

The steamer is godsend by the way. It’s one of those electric ones that you just switch on and it does the job for you. You just have to work out the timings . . . .