The tasty treats sold by FE Coales & Sons in Twywell impressed customers so much they nominated the family firm for an award in the Countryside Alliance's Best Rural Retailer competition, designed to celebrate rural communities and their businesses.

Business partner Mark Coales, 37, who was born and bred in Twywell, said: "The award came completely out the blue for us because it was our customers who put us forward for it.

"We're really pleased to have won – it means so much to us because it has been given to us thanks to our customers."

The business was set up in 1910 and Mr Coales works alongside his parents Frank and Marilyn, his sister Sarah and his cousins Adam Radford and Emily Coulson.

The family put their tremendous success down to the fact their business continues to do things in the same way butchers have been doing for generations.

Mr Coales said: "We make everything on site from our own recipes – they're not things from off the shelf like they are in other places and we don't use preservatives and that sort of thing.

"We just do the job as it used to be done.

"We can't compete with the supermarkets in relation to their turnover but we can knock the spots off them in terms of quality."

But the family's love of tradition does not mean it is not keen to experiment with new dishes.

Mr Coales added: "We're always trying new things and ideas.

"We make special dishes according to what our customers want – we're only limited by what we can physically produce and our customers' imagination.

"We also find customers are often on different diets now for health reasons, or because they want to lose weight, so we produce things like gluten-free products."

The business relies on produce from farms within about a 15-mile radius and its lamb comes from the village.