KENT chef Guy Massey, a member of Produced in Kent - the website run by Kent County Council to support small business in the county - has made a link-up with fellow PiK members The Hop Shop to use their lavender in dishes at his Eyndsford restaurant The Watermark.

With lavender making a comeback on the menus of top London restaurants, Massey said: "I jumped at the chance to devise a recipe. I'm always keen to work with local producers and you can't get more local and seasonal than the lavender grown in the fields near the restaurant.

"Lavender is an incredibly versatile herb from the mint family, which means it's closely related to rosemary, sage and thyme, so we shouldn't really be surprised that it's edible."

As a fan of French cuisine Massey was aware that it was the Provencal cooks who really took to the culinary flavour of lavender 600 years ago. French chefs had been "captivated" by it.

"Indeed to this day French sheep farmers send their young lambs to graze in fields of lavender in order to tenderise and give flavour to their meat."

The Hop Shop is a working farm near Sevenoaks owned by William and Caroline Alexander - who in 1987 made the bold decision to diversify operations and began planting lavender for drying.

With five Chelsea Gold medals in the bag, the Alexanders haven't looked back, and in 1999 The Hop Shop expanded further, planting fields of lavender to harvest for lavender oil from which they make their lavender essence for use in the seemingly crazy culinary confections.

Owner Caroline Alexander explained: "The taste of lavender is never quite what you think it's going to be and it can work on so many different levels with both sweet and savoury foods."

Caroline is full of entusiasm for the new culinary link with chef Massey.

"We're absolutely delighted that Guy appreciates our lavender to its full and it's going to be tremendous to see what he can create from our special lavender essence to give people new culinary experiences," she said.

The lavender fields are in full bloom in July and The Watermark Restaurant and The Hop Shop are hoping to take advantage of a swap between visitors to each establishment - so that someone taking a prebooked tour of the lavender fields can then go to the restaurant to taste the product in the form of Guy Massey's lavender cheesecake.