A TINTERN hotel has discovered a sweet way to boost their trade. The village's Wye Valley Hotel is run by Sue and Barry Cooke, who only formed their popular Pudding Club in November, which has since grown rapidly by word of mouth.

The Pudding Club offers diners' six sweets to follow their main meal and the event has already achieved a loyal following from a number of sweet-toothed people from all generations.

Sue said: "We aim to uphold the values of the great British pudding by choosing six different puddings for each occasion.

"Most of our ideas come from well-known recipes from the past and also other delights we have gathered over the years."

Sue explained the inspiration for the club came about following the success of the supper rooms growing up around the country.

"Preparing puddings for the club is very labour intensive and behind the scenes chef Alan Lightly works franticly in the kitchen to produce around 240 sweets," Sue added.

"We believe we have the right mix of puddings with a varying range of textures and tastes."

Since taking over the hotel six years ago the couple have had to overcome road closures caused by landslides and the foot and mouth outbreak.

Their determination paid off as the hotel, with its nine en-suite rooms, was invited to host the cast from Arthur's Dyke during the production of the film featuring Dennis Waterman and Pauline Quirke trekking along Offa's Dyke.

The crew also transformed the hotel into the 'Ramblers Rest' for the movie, and the owners even undertook small cameo roles.

In recent times they have won the Best Pub Award in the Wales in Bloom competition, and are really looking forward to their Christmas party season and a future with many of their expansion and improvement plans now coming to fruition.

Pudding Club diner Alan Lloyd, from Caldicot, said: "It's nice to be able to try out all the puddings rather than being able to just choose one. It was so good that I've already made sure of my place in January's Pudding Club."

Another diner, Diane Orchard, from St Briavels, said: "If you come to a pudding club like this then you have just got to eat them all. The fact that all the puddings are home made makes it even better."

"I know it's a clich but early booking for the Pudding Club is essential as most of the diners have already booked their places for the next club," added Sue.