Kris Blackburn, The Running Fox Artisan Bakery & Café

Kris Blackburn lives with her partner and their Labrador Red, Golden Retriever Ollie and cat Lupin in a Georgian cottage beside the River Coquet in Felton, Northumberland. She has transformed a newsagent’s close to her home into an artisan bakery and café. Her background is in catering – she opened a coffee shop when she was only

20, followed by a deli, then spent time doing private catering before becoming a consultant.

Five years ago, she was offered the newsagent’s-cum-coffee shop. ‘I said if I took it on, it needed something else, like a bakery, to go with it. The first day we opened in April 2011 there was a queue of people up the street – it was like the film Chocolat!’

The ethos of the business is serving good-quality, wholesome, homemade food, including artisan bread, cakes and pies, and everything is locally sourced. ‘Everything is fresh and made by us,’ says Kris. Afternoon teas have become a firm favourite too. The Running Fox is now one of the mainstays of village life. ‘We’ve had amazing support from the village – everyone comes in for a chat; it’s a massive community thing. Originally I opened it for the village but our reputation has spread.’ A second coffee shop has recently opened in nearby Longframlington.

‘It’s been a whirlwind five years but I have an amazing team – they work so hard. I felt complete disbelief when I heard we’d won. To win a national award for this little coffee shop is quite something for us.’

THE RUNNING FOX ARTISAN BAKERY & CAFÉ, 01670 787090, RUNNINGFOXBAKERY.CO.UK.