In November 1995, I met Alison Ticehurst, who was renovating the much-neglected Walled Garden within Duncombe Park. She tried and liked my cakes and wanted someone to make nice and unusual cakes for the tea-room she was planning to open the following June. At the time I was in the process of being made redundant from HSBC Malton Branch, and was looking for alternative employment. Subsequently, with the help of my mother Jean Gill, I set about developing and researching the ingredients available to the Victorians and writing commercially viable cake recipies

I had already done some of my own market research selling Christmas cakes at craft fairs to see what the response would be and, even then, it was quite significant. So, once I had found a summer market for a different range of products, I could justify setting up Traditional and Scrumptious as a full time business, which I did in May 1996.

Two years after setting up the business, I had a baby and then another 20 months later which has obviously kept me busy. However they now are both at school which makes my life a little easier and the business has been growing significantly for the last few years. In 2003 I joined the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Food Group (formerly Yorkshire Pantry) and this year I was accepted as a member of The Guild of Fine Food Retailers which has increased my potential customer base.

General Information

All cakes are made with butter. Sizes and weights given are for guidance only. All cakes are wrapped by hand in cellophane and seasonally decorated making them suitable for both own use and giving as presents.

Products are labelled in accordance with current legislation and quote a conservative best before date. Our premises are regularly inspected by Richmondshire Environmental Health Department.