A COCKERMOUTH woman who started out with a market stall has expanded her eco-friendly business and is opening a shop in town.

Holly Baker is opening Goodness and Grain, a refill shop on Market Place.

She will be supplying staple food ingredients, local organic produce and eco conscious household items. Customers simply need to bring their own containers.

Holly, who moved to Cockermouth five years, first started out with a market stall at Mitchell's car boot sale every Sunday. She ran it with her friend Natalie. The two new mums were keen to cut plastic use.

"We decided we wanted to bring it into town and build on our customer base," said Holly, who has a daughter, Violet, four. "We set up a sustainable market at The Hub, off Market Place."

By the time covid struck, Holly was running the business on her own and started working out of her home. She has now taken over the shop lease and will open on Friday.

"I want to provide a one-stop shop for people's eco-friendly needs," she said.

"We are always going to draw in people with the same mindset but over the last couple of years more people have been keen to shop this way.

"It's slowly grown and grown and I have a solid customer base now. They all continued to shop with me during lockdown.

"I hope to have lots of local produce, people like to know where there food has been grown."

The shop will stock everything from cereals, lentils and pulses to detergents, shampoos, bamboo toothbrushes and resusable sanitary products.

It will also be the pick-up point for all the buyers using Cockermouth Online Market which has recently been launched.

Holly's partner, Harry Oxley, is manager of The Fellpack in Keswick. She is indebted to her parents, Nick and Julie Baker, for their support.

"They have made it possible as they've helped me non-stop," she said. "My dad has done everything to get the shop sorted, he has been my number one handyman.

"It's been lovely working with him because I didn't see him much through lockdown."

There will be restrictions in place as a result of covid. "I will be dispensing on behalf of people, into their containers. However people are free to look around the shop," said Holly.