WALK into Myrtle Allen's house in Hampton Vale and you'll stumble over cardboard boxes stuffed to the gills with some of the most delicious things in the world.

Mountains of Christmas puddings, sticky toffee puddings and spotted dick are wrapped in brown paper, tied with thick woolly brown string and poised for action.

Feature: Have a thought for those working at Christmas
Jemma Walton meets some of the people working over the Christmas period.
-------------------------

Because 52-year-old Myrtle is a professional pudding maker, and the deliciously naughty puds she's storing in her hall are ready to be taken to country, game and Christmas fairs everywhere, or posted off to internet customers.

And on top of the spotted dicks and the sticky toffees, she is gearing up to produce around 1,700 Christmas puddings during the Yuletide season.

She said: "My husband's mum, Nana Allen, used to make Christmas puddings for the family, but when her husband died she lost heart and didn't want to do it any more, so she gave me her recipe, showed me how to make them and I took over. That was 33 years ago."

But such was her skill with a pudding that she was soon making them for friends and selling them to her colleagues at Thomas Cook.

Then, two years ago, she made a batch of 500 and took them along to an event at the East of England Showground. "I didn't sell many," she said. "Not even enough to cover the cost of my pitch, but it was a start."

Her business developed and when she was made redundant last November it gave her the perfect opportunity to take her hobby to the next level, and The Old Fashioned Pudding Company was formed.

Now, she makes between 5,000 and 6,000 puds a year, and is run off her feet during December.

She makes her Christmas puddings, with the help of her pal Irene Reed, in batches of four, and then when she's made 72 she takes them out to her garden shed and puts them in the industrial-size steamer. Once they're cooked and wrapped she sells them for £6.50 a throw.

"I love Christmas," she said. "It's the most exciting time of the year, I can't really say why. I'll have two weeks off over Christmas. And I'm trying not to eat any pudding before Christmas Day, when I'll enjoy mine with my family.

"I like a nice traditional Christmas, and my Christmas puddings are no frills. I hear about people putting Jamaican sultanas or whatever in, and that's not my thing.

"I make mine just like Nana Allen did 50 years ago."

Tip from the professionals: When making your own Christmas pudding, make sure to keep it moist.

Myrtle puts plenty of French brandy and Guinness in her puds.

To order a pud see www.oldfashionedpuddings.com.