Cooking on TV for Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield is a real blast

I've moved house, launched a cookery school, run a marathon, appeared on TV and cooked literally hundreds and hundreds of dinners.

Now, hopefully, I can start to live a 'normal' life – if working 70 hours each week is ever normal.

My life today is very, very different from my life 12 months ago. The most important things – my wife, Jenny, and daughters, remain the same. But just about everything else has changed.

In the space of a year I've become a regular part of the team on ITV This Morning. I appear on the show once a fortnight and it's great fun.There are even times when I'm recognised at the supermarket. Cooking for Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby is a blast – but it's very, different from cooking in the kitchen of a local restaurant.

My day job for the best part of ten years has been at The New Inn, in Baschurch. Each morning, I've been up early to prepare dishes for that day's service. I've cooked breakfasts, lunches and dinners and in between done the school run, like all parents. In between times, I've met stockists and suppliers; farmers and producers. It's been a round-the-clock, none-stop vocation and I've enjoyed every moment.

I've been fortunate to cook for a great crowd. The New Inn is a traditional village pub. We always kept a table for locals, served good real ales at the bar and provided high-quality dinners during our evening service. We've built a strong local following and also welcomed people from further afield.

During the past year or so, the power of Twitter enabled me to communicate with people from across the UK. We even cooked for people who'd seen me on the TV and decided to drive to Baschurch to taste my food for themselves. As a chef, it's always very humbling to welcome people who live a long way away – from London, Liverpool, Manchester or further afield. I've always done my best to make those customers feel welcome – but always remembered the locals come first.

In recent weeks, my wife, Jenny, and I bade a fond farewell to The New Inn and moved full time to the Brompton Cookery School, at Attingham, on the National Trust Estate, at Atcham, near Shrewsbury. We secured a deal with the National Trust and after a few months of balancing the pub with the cookery school, we decided we had to focus fully on one or the other.

The cookery school won and so now we're working around-the-clock to make that a success. There are also rooms at Brompton and so we're busy welcoming guests to the area.

Brompton was established by a businesswoman who still lives in the region, though she no longer plays a part in the operation. When she designed the venue, she built it for visiting chefs.

In many ways, that meant Brompton was quite a clinical venue – I'm sure people won't mind me saying that it lacked a little soul.

We're putting the soul into our operation and the food. Since we moved here full-time, we've been putting our stamp on the venue and making it ours. I'm demonstrating every week, so I've surrounded myself with my favourite cook books.

I've made the transition from full-time restaurant chef to full-time cookery school owner and demonstrator – and I'm loving every moment.

Hopefully readers from the Star will book in to find out what it's all about – and to see whether the food is really as good as Holly and Philip say. . .

Marcus Bean isa regular on ITV's This Morning. He owns the Brompton Cookery School, at Atcham, near Shrewsbury, on a National Trust Estate.

Read Marcus Bean's column first in your Weekend Shropshire Star, every Saturday.