CHIPPENHAM baker Lydia Houghton has won a national Bake Off competition run by Poundland to celebrate the retailer's 25th birthday.

Ms Houghton met well-known actress Jane Asher at Poundland in Chippenham on Wednesday (Nov 18) who presented her with a cheque for £1,000.

The 43-year-old won the competition having baked a piggy bank with pound coins spilling from the cake.

“I’m thrilled that I won the competition," she said.

"I was worried the cake wouldn’t turn out how I had envisaged, but it baked better than I had hoped for.

“As a regular customer at Poundland and owner of many of the Jane Asher bakeware products, I was so excited to meet Jane in person, it has been a wonderful day.”

Poundland’s exclusive Jane Asher bakeware range includes over 95 items including measuring jugs, mini scales and cake tins, and the Death at a Funeral actress has also introduced a range of festive cake toppers, cookie cutters and chocolate moulds into the range.

Judging the competition, Mrs Asher praised Ms Houghton's creativity and baking skills, saying: “It was such fun judging the cake competition and I was genuinely amazed at the number of entries and their inventiveness and skill.

"I found it almost impossible to choose a winner, but that cute little pig did charm me enormously, and the way the pound sign went through the inside of the cake was brilliant.”

Poundland opened their first store 25 years ago and Europe's largest single price value general merchandise retailer.

Jim McCarthy, CEO of Poundland, added: “We had countless entries into our baking competition to meet Jane, which just goes to show how loved she is in the baking world.

"It was great to see the baking creations which were made in honour of our 25th Anniversary, and I’d like to thank everyone who took part.”