'I’ve always had a passion for pastry and baking'

It now operates from premises at the Lakeland Business Park, in Cockermouth, with a takeaway attached.

Cumbrian Baker supplies products to cafes across the county and beyond and employs three part-time staff and two full-time, including Sharon’s husband Gary.  

Sharon, 52, and Gary have two children, Lucy, 24, and Jack, 21. 

I come from everywhere really. I’ve lived all over, in Birmingham, Wales, Burnley, Northamptonshire.  

My first job was working in a factory that made ball bearings doing vending machines and then working a bit in the kitchen doing contract catering. I've been in the trade for such a long time. I love it. I couldn't see myself doing anything else. 

I moved up to Cumbria and got a job as a chef at the Coledale Inn, in Braithwaite, and my husband-to-be Gary was the barman. The owner said to me that "Gary’s looking for a wife" and I thought they were trying to marry me off before I even got the job! But it just so happened that I did marry him and we’ve been together nearly 30 years now.  

I’ve always been a chef and I’ve always had a passion for pastry and baking. I worked at the Lyzzick Hall Hotel, in Keswick, as a pastry chef and learned my trade. From there I went to the Lingholm Kitchen, on the Lingholm Estate, to set up the bakery, then I went to Mathilde’s at the Heaton Cooper Studio, at Grasmere.  

When the kids grew up I had a bit more time and I thought it was the opportunity to start my own business and do something for me. I started Cumbrian Baker in my kitchen and began supplying a shop in Ambleside. I thought I’d just do it and work part-time and maybe do a few celebration cakes and wedding cakes but it really grew from there.  

It's more from word of mouth more than anything. Everybody knows somebody that knows me or knows of me or has been somewhere that I supply cakes to. Gary converted my garage into a little bakery. I soon outgrew that and took over the house and there were boxes and chocolate and ingredients all over the place.  

It was just me and my friend and Gary helping me at that point and we came to a crunch where we were working 24/7 and sometimes 36 hours straight just to get the cakes out. We knew we could either close it down or get some premises. The unit came up at Cockermouth and we moved in in April last year and we opened the takeaway in July.  

We started off with cakes and tray bakes and showstopper cakes.  But now we specialise in special dietary requirements. A lot of our good sellers are vegan cakes and gluten free and dairy free cakes. 

I have a couple of customers where I just do their vegan, gluten free and dairy-free options. Then I have some customers where I supply the whole of their cake counter.  For other customers I just help them out because in the industry now there's such a shortage of skilled bakers. People can come to me and we can provide that service where they don't have to worry about having to try and find staff.  

Gary was a carpet fitter before he began working with me. He helps out on the logistics side of things and the deliveries and he’s the face of the business going out and meeting people. He also helps with running the takeaway side of it.  

People are more interested in food now and wanting to know where it comes from. They want to know what they're eating.  I wouldn't ever make something that I wouldn't want to eat myself. Money is tight now for a lot of people and if they want to eat something nice then they want something really nice. 

You don't do it for the money. You do it for the passion. We do it because we love what we do. Yeah, it's hard work and it's a slog sometimes but we couldn't see ourselves doing anything else.