Neil Whitehead had the enviable task of meeting Emma Goss-Custard, director of Honeybuns bakery in Sherborne, Dorset.

NW: So, what is Honeybuns all about?

EGC: "Honeybuns is a small creative bakery. We make yummyliciously good things from as many good local ingredients as possible. We are careful about food miles but we have to make compromises on things like pecan nuts. Whenever we can, we will source the non UK grown ingredients from Europe rather than further afield. Our number one priority is flavour and texture or 'mouthfeel' which we spend a lot of time perfecting when developing new products."

NW: How did Honeybuns start?

EGC: "I used to pedal around Oxford with my homemade cakes balanced in the front basket during the late 1990s. I used to bake in my shared student digs. Back then I used to clock up 120 miles a week on my bicycle! We have grown a bit since then and now we are a team of 20. Our growth has been organic and we have avoided the venture capital, higher octane business path."

NW: What sets you apart from other bakeries?

EGC: "We bake our cherished products far slower than the bigger bakeries. We set our vintage deck oven to a low temperature to allow the flavours to mingle and develop properly. Batches are small and our products are made from scratch using only natural ingredients.

"We buy our ingredients from people with a similar approach to our own flavour, pride, quality and fun! Our free range eggs come from two miles away and our butter is the creamy old fashioned kind from 12 miles away. Food miles are not the only consideration we take into account when choosing suppliers- quality, organic status, reliability and price are also important.

"The cakes have won many national awards because they're so delicious. All our products are wheat free and all but two of our lines are gluten free too. Our cakes are safe for coeliacs to eat.

"We have a very green conscience and have implemented our own 'bee green' initiative which includes recycling of our waste products, our wildlife sanctury and the replanting of missing hederows and deciduous trees."

NW: What are your influences?

EGC: "We are inspired by the recipes I inherited from my Mum and granny who were way ahead of their times in many ways. There's an Italian feel to lots of the ingredients - it just so happens that we prefer using ground toasted nuts, seeds, polenta and quinoa to regular wheat flour. Taste and traceability continue to be our top priorities."