Women's Institute members have again proved that their cooking talents embrace far more than pickles, jams and scones. A dozen members of the WI, from all over the country, met up at Denman College, in Marcham, last week to take part in a cooking competition which required them to create a celebratory meal under the watchful eye of five judges. Those taking part were representing federations from Cumbria, East Sussex, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and - last but by no means least - Oxfordshire. I was one of five judges selected from as far away as Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

The contestants' mission was to devise and cook a three-course meal that could be served at Denman College during September to celebrate the college's 60th anniversary. Denman College is the WI's residential adult education college. Set in 17 acres of well-tended grounds, this large Georgian house was bought 60 years ago by funds raised over the years by members of the WI. It was named after the organisation's first chairman, Lady Denman, and is now known as the WI's jewel in the crown.

The cooking contest was the brainchild of Diane Sanderson, home economics adviser to the WI, and her team. Diane was convinced that a cook-off such as this would be a splendid way of highlighting the many talents of WI members. She was right. The winners, June Foreman and Lynn Taylor, from Otmoor, Oxfordshire, certainly proved they were multi- talented, as were all the finalists who took part. Each one could stand tall alongside celebrity chefs any day.

Entrants began by submitting a journal which not only detailed the menu and ingredients chosen but also discussed the manner in which the recipes were developed. The recipes had to be their own. A recipe by Jamie Oliver, Gary Rhodes, or one of their favourite chefs would not do.

Costings had to be included, too. Each team worked on a budget of just £25, for a three-course meal for four adults, which, as June Foreman pointed out, proved difficult as food prices have risen considerably since they submitted their journals last autumn. Besides this, they were creating a meal that was to celebrate autumnal fruits, which put costs up a great deal. However, by carefully juggling the ingredients, all finalists managed to come within a few pence of the allotted costings.

As one of the judges, I must admit to being amazed at the effort the women had put into designing these journals - many of which were works of art in their own right. Some used photographs to highlight the various stages of their meal; one team bound theirs into a book with the help of Photoshop, while Lynn Taylor used her skills as a watercolourist to paint the berries and vegetables that went into the meal she cooked with June.

The table setting was taken into account, too. Competitors went to the most extraordinary lengths to match flowers with napkins and tableware. Most had bought square plates on which to display their food and tucked little nosegays of flowers into the napkins.

There was nothing flamboyant about the way the women worked during the three-hour competition. All of them methodically got on with their work, constantly clearing up behind themselves as they began their prep. At no time did the sinks overflow with dirty saucepans, and work surfaces were spotless. It was all very impressive and team spirt certainly prevailed. What was even more impressive was the creative way each meal was carefully assembled and presented. Deciding on a winner proved extremely difficult. However, in the end it was quite clear that the outstanding menu, devised and cooked by Lynn and June, was the winner.

Because the meal was to celebrate Denman's Diamond year, these two enterprising friends even managed to find a couple of diamond-patterned chefs trousers on the Internet and Lynn dyed a lock of her hair purple to match their table setting.

Their menu began with an eye-catching chilled starter, the Gaelic Rose (see recipe, left), which called for a great deal of knife-skill to get right, but looked and tasted simply wonderful. Their main course, Denman Delight, called for chicken breasts, streaky bacon and sun-dried tomatoes in oil, along with breadcrumbs and crushed garlic. The tomatoes, oil, breadcrumbs and garlic were blended into a paste and stuffed into a pocket cut in the chicken. The bacon rashers were then bound round the breasts to secure the filling during the cooking process. This was served with a delicious savoury sauce, crushed potatoes and courgettes cut lengthways and grilled.

The pièce de résistance, their pudding, which they named Diamond Jubilee, called for a bottle of Babycham, with which they made the jelly, and small peeled pears cooked in a stock syrup infused with a cinnamon stick. The dish was decorated with small diamond biscuits shaped on a rolling pin as they came hot from the oven. Not a detail was left out. June's husband made them a set of diamond-patterned pastry cutters so that the shape would come out perfectly.

When I spoke to June and Lynn the next day, it was clear they were still floating on cloud nine.

Lynn said: "We still haven't come back to earth yet. We really had no idea we would win. We kept looking over at the others to see what they were doing and thought that their dishes looked far better than ours. But we kept going. It was a real challenge and we loved every minute of it."

Although neither woman had cooked in front of anyone before, the confidence that comes from years of home-cooking shone through - their artistic talents and love of real food did the rest.

"This is what today's Women's Institute is all about," said Diane, who is working with others in the Institute to encourage us all to enjoy cooking real food.