SUNGOLD

These little orange tomatoes taste delicious. Many of them never make it as far as the kitchen.

My first ever job (£6 a month) was as a chambermaid in Foreland House, Isle of Islay, the shooting lodge of the Rt Hon Charles Morrison, MP, who was a toff and no mistake (but not as much a toff as his younger brother, who minced along the corridor wearing diamond encrusted slippers).

Chambermaiding is a split shift job. In the long afternoons, I was at a loose end until Mr McNeil (gardener, gamekeeper, gaffer, and all round good guy) gave me the key to the walled garden and had me pick the produce. The deal was this - bring back a full basket and I don't care how many you eat. I'm not sure his wife (crabby cook and crustacean murderer) approved. In that enchanted walled garden I learned the joy and wonder of fruit and veg growing and have never looked back.