Put the milk in a saucepan and add the lavender flowers. Bring to the boil, being careful not to let the milk boil over, pushing the lavender flowers into the milk so they are covered. Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together until the mixture is pale and fluffy.

Bring the milk to just under the boil again and strain it through a sieve into a jug. Slowly – or a little at time – pour the warm milk onto the egg yolk and sugar mixture, beating all the time with a wooden spoon. 

Pour the milk and egg mixture into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over a very low heat, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to turn into a thin custard.

Fill your sink with cold water and place a large bowl in the water.

Immediately pour the custard into the bowl set in the cold water. Let it cool, stirring every so often.

When cool, stir the cream into the custard, cover and chill in the fridge.

Churn in an ice-cream machine or, if you don’t have a machine, pour the mixture into a shallow flat container that will fit in your freezer and cover it. Every couple of hours, remove the mixture and beat it – do this about three times during freezing.