I love my expertise in cookery classroom

A group of aspiring cooks had joined me to learn how to make a selection of canapés and petit fours.

Canapés and petit fours are in every good chef's repertoire. Great dinner parties should always start with a selection of playful, tasty canapés and there's nothing better than petit fours to finish.

The group had been a pleasure to teach. Eager learners, each member had absorbed the lessons I offered.

As the day progressed, they'd made a series of thrilling canapés and delightful petit fours. The cookery school was filled with savoury and sweet aromas as the group had cooked like seasoned pros.

As the afternoon wore on, the course came to its climax and the group filled their bags with the goodies that they'd made. They'd all learned how to make small bites that were simple and delicious – they'd learned how to put the wow factor into their dinner parties.

The guests made their way out of the venue and I stayed in the cookery school, cleaning and making sure the venue was ready for the next arrivals.

A few minutes later, a workman came into the cookery school. "They enjoyed that," he said.

"Did they?"

"Oh yes. The guy was walking across the car parking saying 'That was brilliant, I learned so much'."

It was a pleasing moment. Chefs tend to work blind. We give our all, putting heart and soul into our food; but we seldom know what people think of it. Usually, chefs are in the kitchen and the customers are out front – so the two never mix.

We break down those barriers in the cookery school and I give every visitor as much time and attention as I'm able to. But when the class departs for the day, there's always a sense of: 'Well, did they enjoy that? Did that make sense?'

The workman's feedback was a blessing for one simple reason – it was honest. The couple who were working across the car park had no idea that their unguarded comments would be reported back to me: they were speaking in confidence and offering an honest assessment of the day. I was thrilled – I'm delighted that I was able to offer them advice that will transform their dinner parties.

I'm a self-taught chef, Marcus Bean and I've lived in pubs since the age of five. I moved to Shropshire at the age of 16. I'd been working as a pig farmer when my parents decided to up sticks and buy a pub in Shropshire. They asked me to move with them and help to run their new pub.

In 2004, I took the plunge with my wife, Jenny, and we took on our first pub. We endured two difficult years, when we took on chefs and were continually let down. And that's when my cheffing career began. I decided I needed to teach myself how to cook from scratch so that we didn't let down our guests again.

As many of you know, I've since cooked on TV as well as appearing live at the BBC Good Food Show, The Ideal Home Show, Ludlow Food Festival, Shrewsbury Flower Show and Shrewsbury Food Festival. At the end of last year, we bought Brompton Cookery School.

There's something special about passing on my knowledge in the one-on-one environment. And there's something even more special about getting it right. Hopefully, everybody who comes along to the cookery school has a 'that was brilliant' moment.

l Marcus Bean is a regular on ITV This Morning. He owns the Brompton Cookery School, at Atcham, near Shrewsbury, on a National Trust Estate.