My own little cooks are the inspiration behind Time to Cook, which I set up with my Mum back in 2018 as a fledgling business in a tiny church hall in North Devon. Together we chopped, stirred, rolled and mixed our way through four classes back to back, brainstorming exciting ideas for a variety of tasty recipes.

Within a few months we had expanded, offering workshops for parents, birthday party packages and even pop up sessions in schools, soft play centres and cafes. Running the classes allowed us to combine our love of cooking with teaching new skills, and it also meant I could spend time with my boys – my littlest arrived just a few months after we launched!

All of our recipes undergo a careful selection process by Rosemary, a kitchen whizz and garden guru with over 25 years of experience as a pre-school manager. She makes sure every recipe is super tasty and easy enough for little hands to make, before I film the online classes. My own teaching background has held me in good stead to add a little extra magic, and also a knowledge of how to connect with the things that encourage and bring the best of children’s learning.

When lockdown was announced we wanted to continue cooking with families and keep spreading the baking love through these difficult times.

We adapted, pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, learning how to record and edit videos, run Facebook lives, and I even released my inner diva to belt out a few classic tunes with my own little cooks as backing vocals!

With a lot of hard work and determination plus lots of support from our community, the Time to Cook club was born! At the moment we run three clubs, one for children aged 2-6 years, another for those aged 7+, then an advanced club for those with a bit more cooking experience, ideal for teens.