At tomorrow's Orton Farmers' Market, Jane Brook will worry as usual about whether or not people will turn up.

For the first time, however, she will fret from the sidelines, not Command HQ.

That's because a couple of months ago Jane decided on some major life laundry.

"I am the kind of person who, if I'm going to do something, wants to do it at 110 per cent; 99 per cent just isn't good enough."

So that was 110 per cent for the farmers' market; the same for her full-time job as an education consultant which often takes her out of the county; and for her part-time job working for Ofsted; and for her new role as a councillor (Jane was elected to represent Orton and Tebay on Eden District Council in November last year); and for renovating her beautiful Orton home not that she gets much chance to enjoy it.

"I was trying to do so many things at 110 per cent. I just couldn't carry on like that."

And so Jane put her hectic life under a very personal microscope.

"To do the council work properly takes up an awful lot more time than I thought it would. The market is well established and it has a good reputation."

If "something had to give", then it was obvious which something' that would be. Jane remains on the board of the farmers' market, but will no longer be involved in the day to day running of it.

That task has been handed over to Jo Hampson who used to own the award-winning Old Smokehouse' near Penrith.

"We approached her because of her involvement in local food," said Jane. "She lives in Shap, and she knows what things are like from a producer's point of view. Tomorrow's market will be Jo's first as manager."

Jane believes that much of Orton's success can be put down to its early accreditation.

"I think people need that guarantee," she commented.

"We were the first but, although there are now 500 markets up and down the country, less than 200 of them are accredited. Lots of people have jumped on the name of farmers' markets but, if people start to feel duped, then we will all suffer."

There are three golden rules for accreditation: One is that producers must come from within a defined local radius (in Orton's case that is 50 miles).

Any value-added products on sale must have some of their ingredients sourced from within that local radius.

Thirdly, there should be no middlemen so that the person selling the food is either the producer, or someone involved in the production process.

"These are not difficult rules to stick to," said Jane.

She has been ably assisted over the years by fellow market organiser Greg Wilson.

"We were a good double act. I came up with the ideas and Greg made them work."

Ideas like making the market a real family event with the help of music and entertainment', anything from ready-steady-cooking to hog roasts and funfairs.

"It's great when you see people with little kids dancing around. It's got to be better for them than being dragged around a supermarket."

But there's obviously more to the success of Orton farmers' market than this "fantastic atmosphere" and its "brilliant location".

"Bringing people back a second time is all down to the quality of the food," said Jane.

The event attracts anything from 800 to 1,200 visitors every month figures for the Christmas market can nudge the 2,000 mark.

Which means that parking can be a bit of a problem. But the disadvantages of that for the villagers are far outweighed by the benefits of the market, says Jane, who regularly conducted both customer and resident surveys to gauge the success or otherwise of the market.

She has nothing but praise for Orton itself.

"What's so nice is that it is a working village, with a brilliant mix of people, no them and us, and a real active community."

Jane says it is Orton's "acceptance and inclusiveness" which makes it such a nice place to live - and an ideal venue for a farmers' market.

Looking back over the years, she says the lows included this year's January floods and, of course, foot-and-mouth.

"We thought we were stuffed but we came back even stronger than before," reckons Jane.

"I think foot-and-mouth brought home to people how important it is to know where your food comes from."

The highs, meanwhile, have included all the awards; Prince Charles's visit at the start of 2001 ("that really helped put us on the map"); and school governor and local farmer Steve Dunning's lead in spearheading improvements to Orton primary school meals service which included establishing links with the farmers' market.

Which, all together, means a jolly big feather in Jane's cap and something to shove in the pipes of the cynics.

"I did have something to prove to them so I was fairly determined from the start that the market would be a success."

And so it is.

It speaks volumes for the measure in which Jane is held that not long ago stallholders had a collection to send her on a well-deserved holiday such was the whip-round' that it funded a five-day trip to St Petersburg.

Tomorrow, those very same stallholders will enjoy Jane's patronage once more but as a customer, not their market organiser. At least now she'll have time to do her own shopping!