Lavender adds colour to food, and when used sparingly, brings a fragrant flavour to a multitude of dishes, both sweet and savoury. It is thought to have spread across Europe from the Greek Hyeres Islands in about 600 BC. There is every chance that the Romans, brought it to these shores. It certainly took its name from the Latin word lavo, which means to wash, as the Romans used lavender flowers to perfume their bath water as well as flavour their food.

The Snowshill lavender fields in the Cotswolds only date back to 2000, but this glorious 53 acres of lavender, growing on a free draining limestone hill and set amid some of the most picturesque rolling countryside you could ever wish for, is a magic place. My dog Pythius and I visited these fields last week as well-behaved dogs are permitted to walk the 70 miles of rows, providing they remain on a tight lead.

The 250 different lavender plants planted in these fields are now coming into bloom and beginning to display their deep purple flowers, subtle blues and even soft pink and white blossoms. Their combined aroma is overwhelming. Because lavender is known to have a soothing effect — not just on us, but dogs too — we were amused to watch Pythius’s reaction to its fragrance. He stopped walking for a moment and just sat there beside the flowers gently swaying from side to side, a calm soporific smile on his face. Indeed he was reluctant to leave. It was really quite amusing. I have never seen him look so contented. It was all we could do to control our urge to laugh.

All types of lavender are edible, though the French variety is considered slightly toxic if used in cooking. Snowshill lavender shop sells little jars of culinary lavender. This is lavender that has not been sprayed with chemicals and is pesticide free. The alternative to using this is to grow lavender in your own garden. Harvest your lavender as you would all edible crops that you grow, by picking it in the morning after the dew has evaporated, looking for the most beautiful spikes with the fullest colour. Bunch a dozen stems together and secure them with rubber bands and they can be hung upside down in a dark, dust-free, well- ventilated place until it’s obvious they have dried. These flowers can then be stored in jars of sugar for a while to infuse their aroma into the sugar and so provide an easy way of adding a lavender flavour to cakes and biscuits. Like other herbs, dried lavender has a more intense flavour than fresh. For more subtle flavours, use freshly-picked blooms, cut first thing in the morning.

Having checked them for them for insects lurking in the blooms, immerse them in cold water, then drain on kitchen paper and use as the recipe requires. To keep blossoms fresh, place in a paper towel and store in the refrigerator. The flowers can also be zapped in a coffee grinder to form a powder that can be sprinkled on the food before cooking.

The ways lavender can be used in the kitchen is endless. Lavender lemonade, made from traditional lemonade recipes to which a teaspoonful of lavender flower buds has been sprinkled, proves a delightful summer drink. It just needs straining to remove the flowers before use. You can add the flower heads to chilled summer punch, too. Garnished with slices of cucumber and lavender it is a superb treat. Cakes and biscuits made using lavender sugar (one tablespoon of dried lavender in a jam jar of sugar usually does the trick) When you need to use it, just sift out the flowers from the sugar after a couple of weeks.

I love using it in my beehive oven when cooking a chicken or the barbeque or when grilling chops, having sprinkled the hot coals with lavender, including the leaves and stalks. For grilled meats and fish, remember that you can enhance the food further by garnishing with a dab of lavender butter, created by adding chopped lavender to butter which can be rolled in paper, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to slice into medallions.

To judge how much lavender you need to add to a recipe, be guided by the amount of fresh or dried rosemary that you would use. Any recipe that calls for rosemary can be cooked with lavender. Begin with too little rather than too much — as you can always add more if needed. The possibilities of how you use lavender are only limited by your own imagination.

We travelled home with several lavender plants at the back of the car. Had I enough space in my garden I would have purchased far more so that I could create a lavender border similar to the one Oxfordshire’s celebrity chef Raymond Blanc planted on the path leading to his restaurant. I think the dog would have liked that.