IN ORDER to cook Mother's Day lunches for more than 200 people, chef David had to miss the birth of his son.

While 200 people were enjoying a Mother's Day meal at The Ashcott Inn, 29-year-old Amber was giving birth.

Amber went into labour the day before Mother's Day - throwing their plans to cater for hundreds of families on the special day into chaos.

But Amber and her partner David Cook knew they couldn't let their customers down, even if it meant David would miss the birth of his child.

Baby Dougie was born around the same time David finished cooking for 217 people at around 8.30pm on March 31.

The pair have been at the pub for nearly four years, and missing Mother's Day would not have been a wise financial decision, regardless of the circumstances.

New mum Amber said: "The plan was to work Mother's Day and manage as we went. We kept thinking 'I bet it happens on Mother's Day'.

"On a good, busy, Sunday we would serve around 100-120 people, so Mother's Day is a big taking day for us, it's bigger than Christmas."

Amber and David knew they couldn't disappoint their customers, so cancelling wasn't an option, but the irony wasn't lost on them.

She added: "I woke up on Saturday morning in pain, but I didn't wake Dave up because I thought he would need his sleep.

"I told him in the morning and we went through and worked it out.

"We didn't want to disappoint anyone, so Dave missed the birth of our son to serve Mother's day lunch to everyone else."

Amber had a few complications during the birth, but with her mum and David's mum by her side, she made it through and Dougie was born.

She said: "I wished he had been there, but I knew it was okay. He was worried about me, but he was very busy."