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Does your design have a JTAG uart?
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Yes it does.
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If so, remove it and replace with a real UART module. Don't forget to add the external signals and specify the I/O pins/voltage standards. Connect a USB cable, or USB to serial cable depending on what your board has. Make sure your PC has the USB serial drivers loaded and a terminal program like PuTTY etc running. Set the RS232 settings on the terminal program to match what your UART module is using.
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Unfortunately my board does not have a legacy UART port, so JTAG UART is my only option.
I did assume this JTAG UART could free run without any JTAG connected. Am I wrong?