The third of twelve people, men and women, all of whom in their various ways work with food and all of whom are passionate about what they do. It's a truism to say there has been a revolution in food but these twelve have all taken fresh approaches: all have a sense of rootedness and authenticity. It was a great pleasure meeting all of them: from the lovely Jeremy Lee working in a down-to-earth way at his grand and history-imbued Quo Vadis to the three artisan producers at Spa Terminus: extraordinary people working enormously hard at what they love. Our great thanks to them all.

Alys Fowler discovered a love of gardening at her mother's knee, went on to study at the Royal Horticultural Society, at Kew and, having been awarded a Smithsonian Scholarship, at the New York Botanical Gardens. Raised in the English countryside, she now lives in the city where she has become a great proponent of the bringing of abundant and productive greenhouses to the grey. She grows lots of vegetables mixed in with plenty of flowers in an allotment and an urban back garden.

She is the author of several books and writes an excellent weekly column on gardening for the Guardian. In person she is good, stimulating, combative, enjoyable and very knowledgable company.

Read Alys' late summer recipe for rowan jelly here.

View the women's autumn winter 2013 collection here.

Photograph by Neil Gavin.

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