An Ashby businessman has seen the prospect almost a year's worth of work wiped out by the Coronavirus lockdown - and with a new baby born at the weekend he knew he had to act fast.

So he has risen to the challenge and taken a new direction.

Martyn Ladkin has been running the I Love Crepes company for almost a decade.

But the Covid19 outbreak has cancelled all of the events he would normally have been at.

As well as that, on Sunday, his wife Amanda gave birth to their second child - a baby girl - which meant Martyn looking for supermarket work to pay the bills.

But now he has started Get Baking Delivery, which is a service aimed at providing hard-to-get ingredients including free range eggs and organic self-raising flour.

Martyn believes he has set up a useful service which uses his business contacts to provide convenience for those who are self-isolating - as well as all those keen bakers out there.

Next week was to have been a major one for Martyn as he would have been part of Ashby's 75th Anniversary VE Day celebrations at the Bath Grounds.

Add to that a host of corporate events being cancelled, weddings delayed, the public events calendar being shelved and sporting events such as Leicestershire T20 cricket looking like it is going behind closed doors, it meant Martyn to do something.

So the 36-year-old has added another string to his bow.

"We might have seen the Coronavirus crisis coming a bit earlier than some other businesses, because we always work a few months ahead," he explained.

"We had weddings and things like that, they were starting to ask questions.

"But then we found everything was up in the air, it's like that's for everybody of course."

Martyn described a typical day's work in what would have been a typical year.

He added: "We set up from a gazebo and can work inside or outside,

"We do a lot of private events.

"And we've gradually built up and established a business which has become my main income.

"But one of our last bookings to be called off was organised by Aston Martin. They cancelled at the last minute, and that was even before the Government advice was issued.

"We were meant to be working at the Ashby VE Day 75th Anniversary celebrations at the Bath Grounds this week."

But he knew he could not simply let the year pass him by - particularly with a new mouth to feed.

"I'd like to think of myself as forward-thinking and I needed to pay the bills, so I hot work at a local supermarket but then thought of the Get Baking Delivery service?," he said.

"It'll be a one man band, I'll be delivering to the door, but we still appreciate that people will be self-isolating.

"The initial feedback has been positive.

"I've spoken to a lady who is self-isolating and she says she is reliant on small businesses and neighbours helping her out. People have said this is a great idea.

"It's open to everyone, but it will help vulnerable people.

"But it's a bit crazy at the moment, we have a young boy, and a new arrival. We were blessed with a little baby girl on Sunday evening."

Like many small business owners, Martyn feels this the virus, and resulting lockdown, is a cruel blow.

He added: "It's a difficult time at the moment, with people gradually cancelling events one by one.

"I suppose it's to be expected,

"But this is the sort of thing nobody could have forecast.

"In terms of this business it would be great to get this going and establish it to the side of what we usually do.

"I've had all my eggs in one basket, and that's been good enough up until now,

"If I can get this up and running it will be another string to my bow, but the creperie is what I'm focusing on next year.

"We did the Leicestershire cricket T-20 last year which was good, and there have been suggestions that that could be played this summer. But it might be behind closed doors, I can't see them having fans in.

"Some days I accept it, some days I don't

"But this new business is something to get my teeth into."