I hate February. Basically, it’s a month longer than I’m prepared to tolerate of bone-chilling, icy winds and strength-sapping seasonal motionlessness.

Of course, the February effect is largely psychological, because the weather is often much better than in March – when it usually rains a lot more and blows a lot more. February, by contrast, can produce quite a few of those steely-blue sunny days without a breath of wind. These are not to be squandered. Get outside, with a thick jersey on but no coat, and walk with your back to the sun. Feel that faint glow as the wool warms up and your skin starts to tingle.

I don’t do much in the garden in February, because there isn’t much to be done. The plants, like all sensible animals, are hibernating. Dormancy is, however, something a gardener can take advantage of. Sleeping plants can be moved, carefully, without complaint. But don’t hang around. The sap seems to be rising earlier and earlier each year.

It is in the kitchen that the battle against February must be fought and, if not one, then perhaps, in a good year, honourably drawn. The skill is to feed the family so warmly that the inherent meanness of the month goes largely unnoticed. The central heating and comfort factors of the food – by which I mean sugar and fat, as well as starchy carbohydrates – can be subtly (or even unsubtly) upped.

Pancakes will always be comfort food of the highest order, as much because of the session as the eating of the end product. In fact, it takes a long time to tire of either. By the time you do, it will practically be Spring.