Coronation Street legend Simon Gregson has long known what an incredible baker his wife Emma is. Now a whole village is in on the secret too - after she took over a popular tearooms in Cheshire.
Emma has been running Morley Tearooms near Wilmslow since October. She has realised a lifelong dream to own her own tea shop - and showcase her incredible talent for baking.
She gets up at the crack of dawn every morning to bake an array of traditional cakes for the café, before heading to set up and serve up an array of hot and cold dishes and teas and coffees at the tearooms itself.
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Simon has been helping out too, much to the delight of visitors and even his Corrie pals, who pop in for Emma's baked treats.
He laughs: "Sometimes when we're busy I'll help out, but Emma doesn't need or want my help really. I've had a few colleagues in and they'll say 'you're not really taking my order are you?' but I do it more as a laugh."
Although Simon admits if he's not at work playing Steve McDonald in Corrie, he likes to pop down to the café just so he can sample some more of Emma's cooking!
Simon says: "It's amazing what Emma has done already here, I'm so proud. People are queuing out of the door for her cakes.
"There's a group of ladies here who want to nominate her for an award for her cakes, and people are now coming in asking if they can buy whole Victoria sponges they're that popular. If I'm not at work I like to pop in for a sandwich as it's better than making one at home."
Emma and Simon had visited the tearooms, which is part of the Morley Nurseries and garden centre site, for years as customers as they live nearby in Wilmslow with their three children. So when they found out that the previous owners were preparing to leave last year, Emma jumped at the chance to take the café over.
Emma says: "I'm working seven days a week but I love it. I'd always said I wanted a café and years ago when Simon and I first met I bought a teaset and said to him "one day I'm going to have a tea shop". Now, 15 years later, here we are, it's come true."
She adds: "I've always been a baker, I bake with the kids and I've always found it very therapeutic. But I was nervous at first as it's a bit different when you start charging for them, but thankfully the reviews have been so lovely."
Simon says: "Her cooking is amazing, I mean it was like wow, it's always been next level. I got to be chief taster at the start for the cakes too, I think she's a feeder," he jokes.
The tearooms is busy throughout the week with a host of local clubs and groups meeting up for afternoon teas and for catch-ups, with a large outdoor terrace as well as indoor seating. And they're hoping to soon get a later licence so they can host bingo nights and events too in the evenings.
Emma says: "it’s a really lovely community. The tearooms here always used to be the place to come in the area, and people now realise it’s open again.
"In the summer we're also going to put more tables in the grassy area at the front of the site, and hopefully put a bouncy castle up there for the kids too."
Emma has got used to queues out of the door at lunchtimes and weekends as word has swiftly spread about her home-cooked treats. The menu includes full English breakfasts for £8.95, toasties for £5.95, jacket potatoes from £4.50 and omelettes for £7.95.
But it's her home-baked Victoria sponge, chocolate cakes and lemon drizzle that are among the biggest hits, sold for £3.50 a slice. So much so people are now wanting to buy entire cakes - and having tasted a slice ourselves we can understand why.
It means Emma has got a hectic schedule cooking them all up at home each morning. She laughs: "I do the baking in the morning while the kids are in bed, and then it's straight over to open up here.
"It's been a big learning curve but I absolutely love it."
With Simon a famous face on Coronation Street, Emma says there's often soap banter from customers. Emma laughs: “The amount of times I get asked 'are we putting on Betty’s hotpot' you wouldn’t believe”.
Simon chips in to reveal that he does, in fact, have the original Betty's Hotpot recipe, should they ever feel like putting it on the daily specials board.
He says: "An old lady sent the recipe into Corrie back in the 60s and Betty [Driver, who famously played barmaid Betty] kept it and then printed it off to give it to us all.
"There's lard in the recipe - that's why I made it - and it was delicious," he laughs.
Simon's Corrie storylines also become a topic of debate in the café too. He recently hit headlines when fans thought he was sporting a "new look" in the soap - after Steve McDonald was spotted wearing a cap - with fans speculating if actor Simon had had a hair transplant.
Emma laughs: "Before I'd even seen that story in the papers I had people coming in and asking me if Simon had had a hair transplant, it was funny.
"I can confirm he's definitely not vain enough for a hair transplant."
Simon explains: "What happened is, we work in blocks for continuity and I rang work to ask if I could have my hair cut and they said 'yeah, that's fine, you've completed your block'.
"But then they came to me and said 'oh sugar, we haven't finished it', so they said for me to put a hat on for the scene.
"I mean, I was wearing a jumper as well but that didn't mean I'd had a boob job either," he laughs.
Emma had previously worked in showbiz before having the couple's three boys - now aged 7, 14, and 16 - but says it doesn't appeal to go back to acting or presenting. She said: "I'd rather do my cakes to be honest, I'm loving it."
Morley Tearooms is on Altrincham Rd, Wilmslow, SK9 4LY. The cafe is open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm.
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