Friends and family told Eric and Sandie Becker that they were out of their minds when the couple had plans to open a gourmet market so far out in the country that the nearest neighbor is a long walk down the road.

But now after celebrating the one-year anniversary opening the Niles Gourmet Country Market, the couple have seen their dream grow to become more than they had ever imagined.

“People thought that I was crazy to open a gourmet market in the middle of nowhere,” Sandie said while busily serving homemade sun tea to customers during the market's anniversary celebration Sunday afternoon. “But things have been going so much better than I had ever hoped.”

Sandie said that eating healthy and gourmet had always been a lifestyle for her, and her style of homemade organic foods were not a stretch to pull off.

“It was my dream and Eric's nightmare,” she laughed.

Although it took the couple more than two years and many tears to realize their dream, Eric said that the couple is still very enthusiastic about their business and plan to continue for years to come.

The market, at 4588 Grange Hall Road, is situated on a hill in Niles with a view that overlooks Skaneateles Lake.

Anita Strods, of Skaneateles, said she has recently become a loyal customer for life.

“We had been seeing the signs for quite a while,” she said. “Yet we had never quite made it out to visit. When I returned from Florida this past April, I finally made the trip, and have been hooked since.”

Strods said that since her first visit to the bistro, or trattoria as Sandie affectionately calls it, she looks for any reason for a visit.

In fact she has held a going away party for a family member heading overseas, as well as a birthday party there, she said.

“I just love it here. I am a therapist and I would say that coming here is very good therapy,” she said.

In addition to the retail market that carries a wide selection of organic and homemade local foods, the couple has since opened the kitchen in which guests can dine on some of Sandie's homemade pastas, breads, ravioli and other gourmet recipes. The market also recently began selling Finger Lakes wines and local and international beer.

“The secret to my recipes is that I don't really have them,” Sandie laughed while serving up a plate of her homemade gourmet baked beans. “I just wing it.”

She also said that she avoids products that are commercially purchased.

“I grow all of my own vegetables,” she said. “And meats come from local farms. That way I know how the animal is raised and processed.”

One of the favorite additions to the kitchen Sandie said was the wood stove she uses for her homemade pizza and breads.

“It took me a while to work it properly but I enjoy this more than a regular stove,” she said. “People say that the smells of my kitchen remind them of grandma's house. And that is a real compliment.”