End of Chapter One.

Five years ago a friend asked me if I would like to take part in a Christmas craft fair selling some of my chutneys and jams. I had never thought about doing anything like this before and so I jumped at the chance.

That evening I met a few stallholders from our local farmers market where I was also a customer and one thing led to another and it was decided :- I was going to take a stall. Low and behold shortly afterwards I fell off the second last step of the stairs and broke my wrist.

By the time I was able to drive and work in the kitchen again another lady had started selling jams. So I resigned myself to making chutneys, relishes, dressings and pates. It was so exciting to experience selling my own produce and to get compliments about what I was doing.

A couple of months after I had taken my stall the cheese lady - Mary - told me she was leaving. I jumped at the chance of taking on the cheese stall having had a long obsession with all things cheesy.
This is when "The Cheeseboard" began.

The last few years have enriched my life and that of my families hugely. My children have seen hands on trading - learning rapidly about the connection between hard work and earning money.
I have met a vast array of people from the community and have become a  member of my local community in a way that can often take a "blow in" decades!!!
I have made an incredible amount of friends which has brought many happy occasions to our lives and I've even bought an 'oul dress or two along the way !!

However over the last few months I've been yearning for a change.  I need a new challenge.

And so .....

Today was my last day as a stallholder in Gorey Farmers Market. I say this with a certain amount of melancholy but also with great expectations of other things to come......

I am thrilled to say I am handing over the reigns to a now ex- customer but still a very firm friend Aidan Clince. I can only hope the stall brings him the same amount of happiness that it has brought me over the past  few years.

And me .... Chapter 2 starts today. First I'm going back to college (again) to do a Maths degree and concurrently I have plans to formulate for my new (ad)venture.

In the meantime I'll still be cooking, eating and reading about food and bringing you an ocassional recipe.

Always  "The Cheeseboard" Gwen xxx