Following my success in making it to the semi-finals of This Morning’s Super Sweet competition, I got the bug of wanting to do something with my desserts and other sweet treats.

What better platform to launch my new business than at my local farmers’ market in the town where I have lived all my life.

How wrong could I be? After visiting the farmers’ market on numerous occasions, I was convinced this was the way to go and would have no problem being able to produce the variety/quantity of yummy goodies to sell.

After discussions with my local Environmental Health Officer, I decided the way forward was cupcakes, cakes, traybakes and so on, as selling desserts that used cream wasn’t as straightforward as I thought.

I contacted the person in charge and she said that they currently had three stalls selling what I was looking to sell, so would put me on a waiting list.

A few months later I then made contact with same person, on a market day, and was basically told that unless any of those stallholders gave up, which she said was highly unlikely, I would not get a stall.

In this current economic climate, shoppers are not being given the choice and my local farmers’ market appears not to allow any competition.

After what feels like "banging my head against a brick wall", I am now taking steps to contact other markets in the surrounding area. However, this kind of defeats the purpose of trying to sell locally produced goods.

I have had to attend local fundraisers at schools and so on to help launch my business, as well as using Facebook to get my cakes noticed.

See: www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/lifestyle/life/cook-jill-gets-a-taste-of-television-stardom-1-1831474


About Jill Scott

Jill Scott, based in Kelso in the Scottish Borders, is a mother of three and a qualified accountant working full-time as an ERDF compliance manager. In 2011 she was a semi-finalist in ITV programme This Morning’s Super Sweet Competition with her lemon meringue cheesecake.

She decided to do something with her baking rather than it being a hobby. She is trying to start up her own business baking from home and has attended local fund-raisers in her town, as well as generating sales through word of mouth. She has also enjoyed recipe-testing for The Dessert Deli cookbook.