THEATRE / On Theatre

Famed as London is for its parks, everyone thinks in terms of Kensington Gardens or Hampstead Heath. Yet London's most extraordinary green space is the scandalously little-known Chelsea Physic Gardens. Tucked away off Royal Hospital Road, a peaceful 15-minute stroll from Sloane Square, the gardens appear to defy logic. They seem too big to be encompassed within the outside walls. Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden must have been something like this.

This timeless treasure is the home of Bobby Baker's A Useful Body of Herbs, which arrives on Sunday as part of the Barclays New Stages Festival. She has been variously described as 'dotty', 'quirky' and 'batty'. All, I should add, in a spirit of ecstatic praise. Her Kitchen Show was followed by her sublime lecture/demonstration How to Shop - which included an essential guide to the universal problem of trolley technique. Baker, who is happily obsessed with food, has had worldwide success. 'I nearly fainted with excitement in New Zealand. You should see the biscuits they have there.'

The show is on for three days and runs for half an hour. Call the box office on 071-930 1745. Now.

(Photograph omitted)