This is no exhibition garden though. Until recently, the plants grown here were made full use of, with sales helping to finance the garden. 'We used to supply the restaurant with produce, and it was satisfying walking down to the Mill with my trug of freshly-picked supplies. The chef asked for fruit, vegetables or herbs, depending on the season,' explained Dorothy. 'We also sell produce to the visitors, and of course try some ourselves. It's interesting to compare flavours with modern varieties, and sometimes the tastes come as quite a shock. For example, I grew celtuce one year, which is a type of lettuce grown years ago for its leaves and for its celery-like midrib. But it is incredibly bitter. I wonder how much our tastebuds have changed over the years, because I've noticed other things being bitter. Perhaps we've got used to mostly bland flavours, or maybe these vegetables were cooked differently to nowadays?'

Some crops are left to run to seed before drying in the attic, ready to sow the following year. Herbs are cut and dried indoors to show visitors how they would be used, for example, to repel bed bugs. And dye plants are grown to show visitors what woad, weld and madder (the sources of blue, yellow and red dyes) look like (they also provided the raw material for harvesting by the participants of textile workshops that were once held at the Mill).

This completeness of purpose pleases Dorothy, who also wonders if she's gone full circle herself. 'The records show that one of the apprentices that ran away had the same name as my grandfather. Was he a descendant, and have I returned to my roots?'

Whatever your connections, this place provides an eye-opening introduction to the practice of kitchen gardening, 19th-century style.

Have you any heirloom varieties?

If you have seed saved down the generations, then the Heritage Seed Library at Ryton Organic Gardens in Coventry would be interested to hear from you (contact details at the end).

And if you have old gardening books and catalogues that detail varieties of the era, or indeed have local connections and information about cottage gardening and plants for home, health and kitchen in the mid 1800s, then Dorothy would love to hear from you. Just write to her at the Apprentice House.