How a Shropshire honesty box became an award-winning bakery

When the Steele family started an honesty box outside their home to get rid of the masses of eggs their chickens were producing, they had no idea that it would lead to opening a now award-winning bakery.

Rachael Steele, 45, worked in the NHS and baked in her spare time, while her son, Joe, 23, was a butcher by trade and baked bread as a hobby.

They started putting their creations in the honesty box, which led to people knocking on the door of their home in Shropshire to ask for more, requests for wholesale products, and huge popularity on social media.

The box started in July 2023, and it was so successful, they opened a brick-and-mortar bakery in November 2024.

“It [the honesty box] went viral pretty much on Facebook… people would travel from here, there and everywhere,” said Rachael.

They celebrated their first birthday in the shop – Steele’s Family Bakery – last week, which is based on Easthope Road in Church Stretton.

“We’re classed as a traditional bakery, so we do anything from Chelsea buns, butter buns, cream cakes, loaf cakes, pasties, pastries, pork pies, breads,” she added.

Both Rachael and Joe are self-taught, and Rachael’s daughter, Lydia, 20, is also a baker and does all of the firm’s social media.

The bakery is supported by a substantial team of family and friends, including Rachael’s mum, Lizzy, her husband, Mark, and even a night baker.

Having been open for just a year, it was a shock to Rachael when they were nominated for an award by a mystery person.

“We had an email and a letter come through, which I actually though was a scam at the time,” she said.

She said the judging process involved not only customer votes, but a secret shopper, and even emails of complaint to see how the business responded.

It was for England’s Business Awards, and on Sunday they were named “Best Bakers in England”.

Looking ahead, Rachael said they had already outgrown the bakery.

“We’ve secured a lease on a unit at Marshbrook,” she said.

“We’ll be baking from there to supply the Church Stretton shop.”

She said the work was “intense”.

“Joe can do over 100 hours a week, I do near 80.”

“I never dreamt that we’d have an award after 12 months, but it just shows… you can achieve whatever you want to achieve if you try.”