She now runs Honeybuns, which employs 18 people, on a farm in Holwell, Dorset, where she also cares for ill-treated dogs and ponies she has rescued.
“ I trained to be a teacher but it really wasn’t for me. I had always baked and my mother was a keen baker so I decided to set up in business from home,” she says.
Earlier this year she moved her entire operation, which makes traditional cakes with a modern twist, from just outside London to the South-West. “It is great to be doing something you want to do in the countryside,” she says.
According to research by Barclays, busy professionals quitting their jobs to set up lifestyle businesses, often based around a hobby or interest, is a major growth area for start-ups.
Many also move to the country to do so, with areas such as Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Pembrokeshire key start-up hotspots, according to the bank.