Sarah Gowthorpe, of Orchard Lane, Hutton, has been making fruit loaves, pies and cakes at home for more than 15 years and insists the recipe to her success is the public’s desire for genuine home- baked goods.

Sarah said: “I have one of the best reputations in the country for home baking, my customers love it because it’s all hand-made and it’s fresh and homely.”

All of Sarah’s baking is made using fresh fruit purchased locally or given to her by friends looking to off load excess apples or berries from their gardens.

The cakes and pies baked at Sarah’s Orchard Kitchen can be found on the shelves of local farm shops, at Driffield’s Farmers’ Market, and at the Stable Lad’s Canteen, at Beverley Race Course.

Sarah has been running the Stable Lad’s Canteen on race days for almost as long as she has been baking and says the chance to combine her love of all things equestrian with her love of catering is one of the best things about her job.

“I love it, it’s hard work and long days, sometimes I won’t sit down from 6am until about 7.30pm but I get to meet such lovely people and I have made some lovely friends in racing,” Sarah said.

“My dad had shire horses and ponies when I was younger and my last horse ended up working for the Metropolitan Police down in London.

“The lovely thing about working at the racecourse is I get to combine my love of horses with my job,” she added.

Sarah’s devotion to keeping the racehorse trainers and stable hands supplied with her home cooking has not gone unnoticed over the years, the canteen having been awarded the national Boursot Race course catering award jointly with Goodwood races in 1999 and again the following year.

“When the staff from Sir Michael Stout’s stables are coming up to Beverley they ring me to put their orders in early before they arrive.”

“Some of my customers buy things for their pack-ups the next day because they love the home baking,” she added.

While a love of horses stems from her early years, the same can be said for her love of baking.

Sarah said: “When I was in my pram I used to have a board across it and I can remember sitting in my pram and making my dad these horrible burned buns which he had to eat.

“My mum’s a good cook, it was always really family orientated.”

Sarah says she knew cooking was the career path for her when she was a pupil at Driffield School.

Sarah went on to study for a City and Guilds qualification in catering at Hull Technical College before starting her first job as a chef at the Trout Inn, in Wansford.

Despite a long running and successful career in catering Sarah insists that she would lay down her cooking utensils before running a big corporate business, preferring to keep things firmly at home.

Sarah said: “I would give it up rather than get big because when you get into that situation it gets out of control.