Murphy Williams, purveyor of fine, flavoured marshmallows that are softer than a feather landing on a pillow, spent the Nineties running around London and scribbling away for magazines such as Vogue, The Telegraph magazine, Esquire and GQ. One day in 2000 she had an epiphany on a bicycle, while searching for an ancient fountain in Picardie, and realized that she could rent out her flat and move to Cornwall with her partner Louis Eliot. Two children followed, and much prettifying of their Cornish farmhouse.
Then in early 2013, she had another epiphany when she came across a recipe for home-made, natural marshmallows and started Cloud Nine Marshmallows. Since then, she has spent a year as Selfridges’ supplier, won eleven awards, including four Great Taste stars from the Guild of Fine Food, converted an outhouse to a commercial kitchen, been voted champion confectioner for the South West, and catered for over 100 weddings in a year. She now feels like a cross between the Juliette Binoche character in Chocolat, providing her customers with a blissful confectionery escape, and Walt White in Breaking Bad, working all hours to a precious formula in her would-be laboratory.