A BUSINESS venture that started as an idea in a garden shed is about to bloom.

Elaine Young has developed Parasol Pots into a fast-growing company, supplying garden centres and gift shops with plant pots designed for outdoor tables, with a hole in the bottom to allow a parasol pole to pass though.

The mobile hairdresser, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, said: "I had the idea in May last year when I was searching for a pot that would sit in the centre of my garden table allowing the pole to pass through it.

"I bought a plastic pot and asked my husband John if he could drill a hole in the base and glue some sort of tubing on."

Mrs Young saw the opportunity to turn the idea into a business and looked to Business Link for advice on marketing and planning.

The product was launched last year and is now supplied to outlets in the UK, Europe and the US.

Mrs Young said: "We received a fantastic response and were inundated with orders."