She called into the shop with her husband John, prior to her one-person show at Lighthouse, Poole.

“What a lovely shop,” she commented. “Full of tempting, if not irresistible, stuff for a cook – all great quality too. And at reasonable prices.”

Prue has just started her 30-date tour culminating in a show at the London Palladium on 6 April.

“At 82 Prue certainly is a role model to us all,” said David and Ione, the owners of Salamander. “We really enjoyed her show and hearing everything about her early days running a catering business in London, her famous restaurant and cookery school and of course stories about working on Bake Off.”

David and Ione also met Dorset’s Maggie Richardson. Maggie was one of the contestants in the 2021 Bake Off and led one of the Salamander events in 2022. She will be joining them for another later this year.

In April Salamander will be hosting two events: a repeat of their popular Wimborne Food Walk on Tuesday 4 April during the Easter holiday. Children are welcome. For details and to purchase tickets call into the shop or contact Salamander through www.salamandercookshop.com. Then on Thursday 20 April between 6pm and 9pm there will be an evening with national KitchenAid demonstrator Anita, which will include food and drink tasting too.