Meet Liz Reid: the Tunbridge Wells Home Baker Behind Shipbourne and Penshurst's Pie Stall

If you've never stopped at the pie stall at Shipbourne or Penshurst farmers' markets, it's worth seeking out. Behind it is Liz Reid, a Tunbridge Wells baker who's spent 25 years in the food and drink industry and now runs her own small business from home - no shop front, just a stall, a website, and a growing reputation that was confirmed with a Gold award earlier this month.

Reid describes herself on her own site, Liz Reid Bakes, as a "baker, preserver and recipe developer." Her background is proper industry experience rather than a recent hobby turned business - 25 years working within food and drink before setting out on her own. Her site also nods to a nickname picked up along the way: a 2024 piece in Kent Life magazine reportedly dubbed her the "pie queen."

The range is wide for a one-woman operation: high-end sweet and savoury pies, quiches, sourdough rye breads, buns, cakes, tarts and preserves, plus celebration cakes for weddings, birthdays and anniversaries made to order. Everything is made from scratch, and Reid's site is specific about using regenerative flours and local produce where she can - not just a line on the website, but part of how she describes her whole approach to baking.

Reid's credentials aren't just self-described. Her Smoked Ham, Leek and Cheddar Quiche won Kent Savoury Bakery Product of the Year at this year's Taste of Kent Awards, up against entries from commercial bakeries across the county - a genuinely independent, blind-tasted result, not a popularity contest.

Reid trades from a stall at Shipbourne Farmers' Market every Thursday morning, and at Penshurst Farmers' Market on the first Saturday of each month, plus occasional pop-ups elsewhere that she posts about on Instagram as @lizreidbakes. Cakes, pies, gift boxes and catering - including afternoon teas and event catering - can also be ordered directly through her website for collection.

Small, local, food businesses like this one rarely get much attention beyond word of mouth at the market stall itself. If you're in Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge & Malling or Sevenoaks and fancy trying an award-winning quiche, now you know where to look.

Source: Liz Reid Bakes and Kent Farmers' Market Association.