Rapeseed oil is becoming de rigueur for cooks in the know. I keep hearing foodies talking of its advantages — but being a bit stuck in my ways — even, dare I say it, prejudiced — I have yet to be convinced. Olive oil man, that’s me.

But down at Stainswick Farm, near Shrivenham, Helen and David Sanderson, now in the fourth generation of farming 400 acres there, are championing the stuff. They see it as the answer to the question, faced by many in their business — how to diversify.

About 18 months ago they invested some £150,000 in the project and put 100 acres over to rapeseed growing. Now they are selling around 7,000 litres a year, all grown, pressed and bottled on the premises.

Their own brand of rapeseed oil now accounts for about ten per cent of their total rapeseed production, with the other 90 per cent going to commercial buyers for use in animal feeds and in vegetable oil production for human consumption.

Helen Sanderson said: “We managed to get a 40 per cent grant from the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) to help us with the capital investment.”

In that enterprise they were lucky — the farm was one of the last organisations to achieve funding from the Government agency before it was culled.

But Ms Sanderson happily admits it helped to know something of how public bodies work — she was formerly a project manager herself, working for Swindon Borough Council.

Now she spends much of her time juggling the business of being a mother of four with the business of selling oil — to delicatessens, restaurants, farm shops and at farmers’ markets.

Indeed, she had just come back from Faringdon Farmer’s Market, where she first started selling the oil, when I caught up with her.

But why should anyone change to rapeseed oil I asked? A question she must have been asked a thousand times before.

She explained: “Because, above all, its local. Also, it only has half the saturated fat of olive oil, possesses a nutty flavour that doesn’t overcome the taste of good food and can be heated to a higher temperature without breaking down and spitting.”

This last point struck a chord with me, a confirmed saloon bar scientist who had always heard that olive oil was very good for you provided you did not heat it up too much. But what about the perceived wisdom that people in Mediterranean countries live longer because they eat more olive oil?

Ms Sanderson said: “I think it is the Mediterranean way of life altogether, a more relaxed way of being.”

Whatever the truth, many Oxfordshire people are obviously taking to rapeseed oil — so the Sandersons must be doing something right.

Ms Sanderson added: “The response has been amazing and we have more than doubled our projections for the first year.

“People obviously think it a good British alternative to olive oil. Demand is so high that as well as the whole family chipping in to man local farmers’ markets, we now have around 40 outlets stocking our product.”

The oilseed rape is harvested and loaded into a hopper for pressing, using a screw press to squash the oil out of the black seeds.

The seed can be stored indefinitely too, allowing fresh oil to be pressed as and when it is needed.

The rest of the farm, other than the 100 acres given over to rape, is mainly used for growing different kinds of wheat — much of which is sold to the bread making company Warburtons.

Ms Sanderson explained the rape makes a good break crop between sowings of wheat which benefits the land.

In addition to the press and the bottling plant, the Sandersons invested in a high-tech computer accounting system to help them keep on top of their growing business. Ms Sanderson admits that accounting is not her strongest point.

I asked Ms Sanderson whether she was tempted to run her car on biodiesel made from the oil — but learned that at present the very idea was out of the question because the rapeseed oil sells at about £5 a litre — still much more than diesel at the pump.

But she added: “We are looking into the possibility of bringing back used oil from restaurants with a view to re-using it, but it is really still just a possible project for the future.”

Who knows where this project may lead. Perhaps the rapeseed oil is as good as olive oil after all.