W HEN Amanda Lang was awarded an A grade for a Scotch egg she had made as part of her O-level cookery course she had no idea that later on in life she would be making her own homemade Scotch eggs as part of her hugely successful business.

Amanda was born in Newbury in Berkshire but moved to North Devon when she was three months old. Her primary education was a bit unsettling because she attended several different schools. "Dad bought and sold properties so we were constantly on the move," she said.

From the ages of 11 to 16 Amanda attended St Audrey's boarding school in Somerset but never strived for academic excellence and was more interested in horses. Amanda inherited her love and passion for horses from her great-aunt Joan and when she left school she moved to Exeter where she studied for her British Horse Society exams at Exeter and District Riding School to become a qualified riding instructor.

When she passed all her exams Amanda wrote to every riding school in Devon seeking employment and when she was offered a job at Kingsland Stables in Parkham Ash, North Devon, she moved and started working as a live-in riding instructor at the stables. Much as Amanda loved the job she felt she needed to earn more money and took a job selling insurance around North Devon. Although she hated the job, it paid well so she stuck at it for a time. She then took on a position selling advertising space to the agricultural industry and left to have her daughter, Hannah.

Amanda then started a part-time Open University course in nursery nursing and whilst juggling with her family she completed the course to level four and worked as a nursery nurse before she realised she had the potential of doing something she would really enjoy while making money right on her door step.

Amanda had bought three little pigs, Primrose, Fuchsia and Ivy, with a view to rearing them and selling the meat to friends and family until she had a brainwave to start breeding her own pigs. Amanda purchased a traditional British Gloucester old spot boar, named him Gerald, and set him loose on her three pigs and before she knew lots of baby "Geralds" started to arrive. Amanda started to build up her stock and now has more than 150 pigs and 15 sows and Gerald has been replaced by Boris, a half Gloucester Old Spot and half Welsh, who has the most idyllic life because when he is not wallowing in the muck he is busy carrying out his gentlemanly duties with 15 sows to choose from.

Amanda's sows have the life of Riley and when they give birth after a three month, three week and three day gestation period they spend 6-8 weeks with their piglets and enjoy a month to two month resting period once the piglets are weaned before returning to the handsome Boris. Each sow can give birth to 8 to 15 piglets at a time and this keeps Amanda busy travelling most weeks to the Cornish Farmhouse Bacon Company who slaughter the pigs and cure the bacon for Amanda to sell to her customers.

As her company, Langs Traditional Meats, started to evolve Amanda became a popular figure at local Farmers' Markets, the annual FoodFest set up by North Devon+, agricultural shows and other local events selling her sausages, bacon and pork. In 2008, Amanda won two coveted Taste of the West awards for her ham and pork and this generated more interest in her produce. When demand for her produce outgrew her kitchen she converted her garage to a preparation room to give her more capacity. As the business continually grew Amanda became more creative with her produce and started making her own sausage rolls, quiches, Scotch eggs and delicious beef pies from the Devon ruby red cows which her parents-in-law, Tony and Liz Lang breed on more than 250 acres of farmland around Parkham.

Tony and Liz are proud of their daughter-in-law's achievement and rewarded Amanda for all her hard work with her own tractor which she has named "Percy Pig" tractor. "It was a huge surprise for me when it arrived on Christmas day whilst I was in the middle of preparing Christmas lunch but it has been the best present ever as I use it all the time to bring feed to the pigs or move them from field to field," said Amanda.

As well as rearing her own chickens Amanda also buys free range eggs from Limbury's Farm, who are her neighbours, to keep up with the demand for Scotch eggs which were honoured in August of this year with another Taste of the West award. She also rears free range turkey and geese for Christmas. After selling all her poultry stock last Christmas she is already inundated with repeat orders for this Christmas and hopes to expand her brood to keep up with the demand.

Anyone who puts in the amount of work that Amanda does would undoubtedly start to feel the pressure but Amanda takes it all in her stride and admits "I thrive on working hard and get stressed if I am not busy." Despite her busy working schedule she still finds time to escape by taking her beloved Nina, the horse for long walks. Amanda bred Nina from a stallion she handpicked and a local mare whose owner let Amanda use for free in return for her mucking out the owner's stables for a year and she can't wait to start riding her. "Nina is only three so it will be a while before I can start riding her out but in the meantime I enjoy walking with her," she said.

Amanda also looks after her great-aunt's horse, Aster. "Great-auntie Joan is now 90 but she stills visits me to make sure I am taking good care of Aster," said Amanda. No one could look after Aster better because Amanda is already a published author of the Horse and Pony Care Handbook which has been published in eight different languages.

As well as attending Bideford and Hartland Markets and supplying various pubs and restaurants in North Devon Amanda is now supplying North Devon's newly established farm shop, The Real Farm Shop at the Big Sheep, and has a shared philosophy with the farm shop owner, Pheobe Gibb. "It is a pleasure supplying a shop who shares my passion for real local food in the true sense of local produce," said Amanda.

The future for Langs Traditional Meats is looking healthy because husband Jason and the kids are all happy to help out Amanda, 45, as Lang's Traditional Meats continues to grow and succeed.

● Amanda can be contacted on 01237 451085 or at www.langstraditionalmeats.co.uk