Tucked away in a cottage on the Oxfordshire borders is a thriving centre of industry - Sophie Grigson's kitchen. Driving past the gravel track one would never guess it was where the famous food writer concocts so many delicious recipes and inspires a nation of cooks.

But venture nearer and the prolific herb garden begins to give the game away.

Enter the warm kitchen, with its Aga and vast French stove, nestling pots and pans, shelves of ingredients and hordes of cookbooks, and you're left in no doubt.

Sophie Grigson's Herbs starts an eight-week run on your TV screens tonight at 7.30pm on BBC2.

Just leafing through the accompanying book of the same title makes your mouth water from rosemary-wrapped fillet of lamb with tomato and olive relish to potato gnocchi with fennel and sun-dried tomato butter.

She grows most of the herbs herself, and if pushed swears by English varieties of parsley, rosemary, mint, lovage and lemon verbena. Her desert island disc herb is coriander.

Sophie has three assistants who make sure the recipes and instructions are idiot proof and realistic and do all the shopping. When filming, each recipe has to be made three times so it needs to be perfect. Sophie is already working on her next TV project, Feasting On A Fiver, due to be broadcast in the autumn.

The 39-year-old was taught well by her equally famous culinary mother Jane Grigson. Her husband, seafood expert William Black, is currently opening the doors of his new London restaurant Fish! The couple, who have two children Florence, five, and three-year-old Sidney, moved to Hellidon, near Banbury, four- and-a-half years ago from London. "I still love waking up in the morning to trees, peace and quiet," she said.

Herbs features a different chef on each of the eight-part series and chef Raymond Blanc is one of them.

The pair are culinary chums and two of Sophie's favourite Oxfordshire haunts are his restaurants Le Petit Blanc and Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons. Other favourites include Pizza Express, Fawsley Hall and Chavignol, all near Banbury.

"We don't eat out often because of the kids, but like every mum I've got Barbie spaghetti in the cupboard and fishfingers in the freezer.

"To start with I made special purees and things for them but soon gave up on that. Now I'm incorporating new tastes into their food to educate them from a young age.

"My youngest loves cooking although when he helps it does take twice as long," she laughed.

"Having children has altered my views on cookery because I'm now aware of the pressures most people are under. They come back from work and need to cook for the kids and their other half, as I've had to learn for myself."

So, are people starting to recognise her when she goes shopping? "People often whisper when they walk past me. Recently this woman rushed up to me and said 'aren't you... aren't you that woman that runs the health food shop in Banbury?' It helped keep my feet on the ground," she laughed.

Story date: Wednesday 17 February

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