For those too young to remember, that was the title of a late 1960s Lennon and McCartney song, supposedly named after a garden called Strawberry Fields in which John Lennon and his friends used to play as children.

I thought it would make a great anthem for the Mġarr Strawberry Festival until I recalled the lyrics, which were written in Lennon’s ‘psychedelic’ period, fuelled by heaven knows what substances, and had nothing to do with fields or gardens, so I didn’t somehow think it would have been quite appropriate!

If last Sunday’s festival was anything to go by, the strawberry fields in Mġarr this year have given us another bumper crop. We always like to go early, when we can park easily, see all there is to see, buy our strawberries and leave before the crowds build up.

Strawberry time in England, depending on the weather, usually starts around mid-June when the pick-your-own season begins.

I would start off meaning to fill just one basket which would hold about six pounds of fruit, but I usually ended up filling at least two. It’s the same at Mġarr. I think to myself I’ll buy just a couple of boxes – well, maybe three – but perhaps, on second thoughts, better make it four. Then I have to decide what I’m going to do with them all, but I haven’t quite run out of ideas yet, so here goes.

First, a strawberry and avocado salad. I read somewhere that it comes from Israel, where some of the best avocados come from. With its creamy honey dressing, it makes a nice light and refreshing summer lunch or starter.

Puff pastry layers sandwiched together with cream and jam are called cream slices in England or mille-feuille in France, but in America for some reason they are called Napoleons.

Fill them with vanilla pastry cream and strawberries instead of cream and jam for an easy make-ahead dessert which only takes a minute or two to assemble at serving time. I used a sheet of ‘Jus-Rol’ ready-rolled puff pastry simply because I had some in the freezer, but it was just the right size and thickness to make six Napoleons.

Profiteroles are a popular dessert, but as an alternative I filled the choux pastry buns with a lemon cream and sliced strawberries, then instead of chocolate, I dusted them with icing sugar and served them with a strawberry sauce. Again, all the component parts can be made beforehand and put together just before serving.

And then there was going to be a strawberry tart, but as I make strawberry tarts every year and wanted something different, I hunted through my recipes and came across my hazelnut meringue cake. With a tweak here and there, it’s now a deliciously squidgy and marshmallowy almond and strawberry meringue cake – and I guarantee it will disappear in the blink of an eye!