FROM the outside, Sophie Constable had everything. A high-powered, highly paid job as a national sales executive for Bupa, designer clothes and a gorgeous, picket-fenced cottage.

But these luxuries came at a price and Sophie was paying heavily. Working and travelling all day to her high-powered London job, she had little time left for a love life - apart from snatching a few precious moments on the train each day with her boyfriend.

"Because we were both so incredibly busy and pushed for time - he was an executive in the music industry - we literally would meet up for breakfast on the early train, both do a long day's work, and then meet up again on the train back to Oxford at around 8ish. We'd grab a couple of glasses of wine from the buffet and chat.

"By the time the train pulled in at the station, we were so shattered we'd make our way to our own homes. I'd shove a meal in the microwave then try to eat it before I fell asleep."

Sophie, 32, admits she felt something was missing.

"I had a sort of epiphany one morning," she says. "I was standing at the station, clutching a plastic cup of coffee, battling to keep the rain off me, my designer suit and an armful of files and I thought `what the heck am I doing?'

"I'd just turned 30. I had no major responsibilities, I lived on my own and was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my job."

Caribbean

So Sophie decided to change her life forever. Within a week, she had handed in her notice at work, ended her year-long relationship with her boyfriend and enlisted as a crew member on a tall ship sailing the Caribbean.

And this week she launches her own baking boutique in Manchester's Triangle shopping centre. But it's been a tough couple of years making the change from businesswoman to baking guru.

She enrolled on a Cordon Bleu cookery course in Paris and soon learned her new job could be just as demanding as her old one.

"It was a real challenge," she says. "The school was run like a boot camp - long hours, pristine whites and three late mornings and you were out with no refund on the fees, all £20,000 of them!"

Despite the hard graft, Sophie discovered she not only loved cooking, but had a real flair for it, passing the exams with flying colours.

Patisserie

"I particularly enjoyed working on the patisserie sections," she says, "and once I'd graduated I decided to learn more about speciality cakes and the art of decorating them."

Sophie enrolled on another cookery course, this time in Chicago, for one month of intensive cake decorating. Finally, it was time to return to her north west roots - not only armed with the skills of a top patisserie chef but a dream of creating exquisite wedding cakes. That was a mere 18 months ago and she laughs when she looks back.

"I'd used the last of my savings to buy a small shop on the Wirrall with a kitchen to the rear," she says. "I'd made a couple of cakes, positioned them here and there and, opened my doors with no orders, no customers and, by now, no money. But I knew my business would work. I never felt more sure of anything in my life."

Today, Sophie is booked up to two years in advance and she has made wedding cakes for actor Will Mellor and other celebrities and Premiership footballers.

Her business, Daisy Hill cakes - so named because the house she sold to fund her project was called Daisy Hill Cottage - has been featured in brides' magazines and she is about to launch her second showroom in the Triangle.

"It's in conjunction with wedding gift list company called Wrapit," she explains, "and it's a fantastic opportunity. Looking back on what my life was makes me realise it's not about what you earn, it's quality of life.

"I mean, to have so little time that you conduct a relationship courtesy of British Rail - that's not living."

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