Back in March while I was busy painting the walls with appropriately named ‘snowdrop’ emulsion during the week leading up to our opening and the second coldest Easter on record (truly!), wondering to myself what kind of plonker opens an ice cream parlour in this country, never mind during a recession, I could not have imagined the summer we were in store for.

Nothing could have prepared me for the amount of time I’d need to spend making ice cream and so the arrival of my new chef was just in the nick of time.

But instead of spending Daryl’s first week showing him the ropes, I was flat out, tied to the churner, for seven days solid.

As fast as I was filling up tins, the crew were whipping them back out of the freezer and into the display counter. One minute there seemed to be a mountain of tubs in the shop and the next they had disappeared like Houdini and back to the ice cream room I went to put yet another mix on.

So I stepped it up and yep, made ice cream while the sun shone!

Once I’d got on top of that it was back to my first love, the kitchen, and endless fabulous weather was the perfect excuse to create loads of gorgeous salads. We made all sorts, hot and cold, sour and sweet... crab and basil; garlicky lamb koftas; juicy prawns with bacon and peaches; spicy chorizo with creamy butterbeans; minty melon and feta.

I’ve loved putting all these fresh, delicious and summery plates on the menu, seeing the outside tables packed with customers, eating, chatting, sipping pink lemonade, chomping down on sticky pork belly and watermelon, and soaking up the rays like we were somewhere far more exotic than a farm just off the A34!

The school holidays hit us like a head on collision and all we could do was ‘hook in and hold on’ as the old windsurfers saying goes, so we just hitched it up another notch and got on with it.

And despite all the carnage I finally managed a little holiday in Cornwall which didn’t pass entirely uneventfully (an understatement – within 48 hours of escaping the pasteuriser had blown up and my car was written off, but that’s another very long story!) Anyway I’m back, we’ve had our first hilarious and long overdue team night out in Oxford, and we’re holding our first Milk Shed dinner later this month which is really exciting.

And now the nights are closing in, early in the morning there’s a deliciously scented nip in the air that smells sweet with promise, and my head is filled with thoughts of pumpkins, fireworks, stews and confits, caramelised roots, slow braised meats, sautéed brassicas, toasted marshmallows and Downton Abbey. Oops, did I just say that?

Like any greedy cook, for me the changing of the seasons brings a surge of new energy and excitement and I can’t wait to get stuck in.

The Milk Shed, Manor Farm, Northampton Road, Weston on the Green.

OX25 3QL 01869 351387 lucie@themilkshedstore.co.uk