At a time when the economic climate is so challenging, many businesses are sticking to tried and tested plan of action. But one local business is using this period of change in an innovative way- creating new products and diversifying into unchartered territories. Reporter Elly Edwards went to find out more.

HONEYBUNS bakery, based in Holwell, Dorset, has been quietly gathering momentum since it was founded by Emma Goss-Custard, a then university student in the late 1990s.
The tasty handcrafted products have created a loyal following, and as they are all wheat free, and many are dairy-free too, they prove that food suitable for allergy sufferers need not be boring.
Not content to rest on their laurels though, the team at Honeybuns will be un-battening the hatches on the Bee Shack cafe this Saturday, and delighting visitors with a chance to taste the new cookie range, two of which are free of refined sugar.

As with other Honeybuns products, the new cookie range mixes traditional Dorset flavours with a distinct Mediterranean influence. The three flavours, triple chocolate tinker, Dorset apple cake and honey, almond and salted pistachio, all use a combination of Dorset honey sourced from Filberts in Muckleford, and natural fruit sweeteners.

The cookies were created with feedback from Honeybuns customers, Emma said: "Last year we had the luxury of going on the road, attending some big shows, which gave us a chance to talk to our customers face to face, and find out what they wanted.
"We could develop into a massive bakery but we think that would make us lose our magic. We want a natural, ethical, progression. We are really happy that we have such an individual company- there are so few people actually making, hand-crafting, their own stuff."
It is exactly this ethos which has the busy bees at Honeybuns thinking of new ways to diversify.
Not only has it started to use the local honey from Filberts Bees in the new cookie range, but Filberts is also creating a new Honeybuns lipbalm.
Honeybuns is also having a lifestyle book written about it, due to be released in 2010.

So what does Honeybuns do differently? Well, it has made a conscious choice not to duplicate any products which are currently on the market and really thinks about the impact on the local environment.
The company's Bee Green project involves the Honeybuns team planting different trees and hedgerows, and woven willow bird feeders which encourages different species of birds to live there.
The team is also making eco-adjustments inside too, with a new toilet for the Bee Shack cafe which will use harvested rain water, and the instillation of solar panelled security lights.

Honeybuns is always looking for ways to make its packaging environmentally friendly too, using card from a sustainable source are printed with vegetable based inks and are recyclable and wrapping is a bio degradable film.

For more details call 01963 23597, or visit www.honeybuns.co.uk