A hit baker has opened a pop-up shop selling artisan breads and sweet treats on Saturdays in the lead-up to Christmas.
Rachel Gardiner from East Bergholt is the woman behind The Potting Shed Bakery, a micro-bakery hidden in the heart of Constable Country in south Suffolk.
The Potting Shed re-opened in mid-November with a pre-order and collection model in place after Mrs Gardiner finished her diploma in the summer in artisan baking and patisserie at The School of Artisan Food in Nottinghamshire.
"I have always loved baking and wanted to open a bakery," said Mrs Gardiner.
"My friends were always asking why I didn't apply for The Great British Bake Off.
"I had cancer between 2017 and 2018 and realised that I had nothing to lose.
"Sometimes you have got to put your money where your mouth is."
The pop-up has been an opportunity for Mrs Gardiner to display her bakes and welcome new faces who can see the array of the bakes she can produce.
"It had been successful - more than I thought it would be!" said Mrs Gardiner.
"I've had some followers from before I left for school to learn to make bread, but it is lovely to see people coming back.
"Word of mouth and social media have really helped spread the word about the business."
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The bread on offer has proven extremely popular with customers, as has the changing weekly flavour of tart.
One of the biggest sellers is a rye espresso chocolate cookie which is made using discarded sourdough starter.
The bakery will also sell some specials just before Christmas, including a raspberry frangipane tart and a chocolate tart.
Mrs Gardiner has worked in a range of careers, including for the Foreign Office, PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, and at the Adnams shop in Hadleigh, before turning to baking.
"I started with sweet tarts," said Mrs Gardiner.
"I just had this niggling that I wanted to be a bread baker.
"I moved to Nottingham on a residential course and trained for eight months last year."
The Potting Shed Bakery is not like other micro-bakeries.
Mrs Gardiner doesn't use any mass-produced white flour and sources as much as she can from local suppliers, including Pump Street for chocolate, flour from Maple Farm in Kelsale, and butter from Fen Farm Dairy.
"My whole ethos is about trying to use flours grown and milled locally.
"I want to support suppliers and growers who put more thought into their food.
"I use wholegrains which are much better for you.
"Even the pastries are made with YQ flour - a flour stoneground from organically grown wheat."
The Potting Shed Bakery can be found on Instagram, with details on how to place orders available there.
The pop-up shop is only opening on Saturdays throughout December from 10am to 2pm, with December 23 opening for collections only, with orders placed during the week.
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