A HEREFORDSHIRE shop owner who has provided fresh produce and baked goods to the county for nearly a quarter of a century is to retire next month.

Sally Edey, who has run Sally's Pantry in Kington for the past 12 years, is to finish in July.

Sally's Pantry is a bakery and cafe run by Mrs Edey alongside her daughter Nicole.

It makes bread, cakes, pies, ready meals and provides takeaway and eat in lunches.

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However the Kington shop was by no means her first venture into the food business.

Mrs Edey first started selling food in 1999 when she found that she had grown too much of her own fruit and veg to consume herself and decided to put some on the wall outside her house in Pembridge.

She then started running stalls in farmers markets in the area and also providing jams, chutneys and baked goods for wholesalers.

After being approached by Westonbury Mill Water Gardens to run their cafe and then by the now closed Tillington Fruit Farm, she decided to open her own shop.

Mrs Edey said: "I've fitted a lot in over my time. I always found it quite difficult to say no, because you never know when you won't be busy."

Mrs Edey then moved into the shop on Headbrook in Kington in 2010 and the shop grew from there.

"I never really expected it to take off like it did, but word of mouth is a wonderful thing and we kept growing to the extent where I had to take on more staff."

The shop has built up a big customer base over the last 12 years and Mrs Edey says she will miss all the friends she has made.

She said that she would like to thank everyone who has worked at the shop and all the customers who have visited over the years.

She said: "Telling everyone has been the hardest thing. It's lovely that when I do tell them they say that I've still got a few weeks to change my mind."

"When anyone asks what I am going to do, I say I'm not sure yet but the first thing I'm going to do is have a sit down."