If you want to stay fit and healthy the key lies in growing your own fruit and vegetables, according the author of Grow Your Own Pharmacy, Linda Gray

Manager of a popular gardening website, Grandmother Linda Gray is a firm believer in home-grown food for a healthy mind, body and spirit. And she should know. Thirteen years ago Linda took her three youngest children to rural France, looking for the ideal place to live.

Linda explains: 'Before I had a family, I worked in banking, although I was always keen to be an interior designer. I put my efforts into exterior design in the end, building dry stone walls and terracing the land, which was far more physical than an interior design career would have been.

'Along with my wish to be a stay-at-home mum to my four children, I had a desire to improve my domestic skills and to feed my family on the best food I could possibly lay my hands on.

'In London, back in the recession years, that was getting more and more difficult. So as a family we decided to up roots and travel through France and England, with the idea of teaching the children different ways of life and how to survive using their instincts should the need ever arise.'

After looking at a number of different properties and regions, they found an acre of land, long since forgotten about, and very overgrown.

Linda continues: 'The area was close enough to get back to the UK if we needed to, although we didn't for about four years, when my eldest daughter had her first child in England.

'With no running water and no electricity the going wasn't easy to start with, but water was connected within a couple of weeks and although electricity didn't arrive for another 18 months, it was appreciated when it did. Washing by hand for two adults and three children is not much fun after the novelty wears off, which it does, very quickly!'

While the children settled in at school and began speaking French with ease, Linda tackled the overgrown land.

'It needed a lot of planning and hard work to turn it into a workable and enjoyable place to be. The vegetable plot was high on the agenda and by the first full summer - although still living in a van and caravans - we were eating organic vegetables regularly. Within a few years there wasn't a day in the year when something could not be picked and eaten. Keeping a few chickens also provided us with enough eggs to feed us and to give away.'

Now back in England to be near her children and three grandchildren, Linda has published her first book.

She reveals: 'The birth of Grow Your Own Pharmacy was my way of getting a lot of useful information into one book and making it available for everyone who has an interest in healthy eating, vitamins, gardening and even cooking.

'I had found that whenever I wanted to know anything about the vegetables and fruits I was growing and feeding to my children, I needed to find three or four sources of information. I personally needed all that information in one place, so I wrote the book which I needed, and hope that it will help many others along the healthy eating road.'

And she is confident that anyone can replicate her efforts to provide a healthier way of eating for her family, even on a small scale.

She adds: 'We don't have to have a gazebo, a water feature or the latest variety of rose bush. That would be nice, but there are plenty of other good things to do with the space we have. Not only will that precious piece of land provide a healthy diet for you and your family, it will also give you some wonderful exercise.

'It should be enjoyed, whether you see it as a chore or a hobby, and it is ultimately going to keep you happy, healthy and living longer. Our bodies are living organisms, just like plants. If we don't nourish a plant with the water and minerals from the soil, the plant will die. The same goes for all living creatures on the planet. We need the right input to gain the right output.'

Linda's book includes advice on how to grow the fruit and vegetables necessary to provide the vitamins and minerals you and your family need, with a list of the recommended daily vitamin requirements, and charts showing which foods supply them.

Recipes and menus have also been included to show how to incorporate your produce into your daily diet, along with information on 13 herbs and their uses in treating common ailments.

Linda's book, Grow Your Own Pharmacy is available from www.findhornpress.com priced at £7.99.