A SCOTTISH family has spent the last seven years travelling to the York area for their holidays - to visit their favourite bakers.

Gordon and Gemma Herbertson and their daughter Kimberley, seven, who live in Glasgow, are huge fans of Thomas the Baker, which has 30 outlets across Yorkshire.

So much so, they have taken their holidays around York - more than 200 miles away - for the last seven years so they can visit the company’s stores while sightseeing. During a typical holiday they’ll visit a Thomas the Baker store once or twice a day.

Gordon said: “We’ve always liked trying regional bakeries and when we were holidaying in York several years ago, we came across one of the Thomas the Baker shops.

“We were quickly hooked and now a Yorkshire holiday needs a Thomas'.”

Kimberley says her favourite food is a Thomas’ steak bake, and she even chooses to have one as her Christmas and birthday meals.

The seven-year-old has also taken her love of the product to school, with a hand drawn picture of a steak bake displayed as Kimberley’s ‘favourite thing’ in her classroom.

Heading to York for a recent holiday, the family got in touch to ask if there was any chance of seeing where the products were made. As a special treat, the company’s quality assurance manager, Chris Chapman, showed them round the firm’s Helmsley bakery.

Gordon said: “It was a real privilege to see the bakery, Kimberley loved seeing how the ovens rotate and seeing all the fat scamps being completed.”

Chris added: “We were delighted to show the Herbertson family round our bakery – how could we refuse when they’re our biggest fans?"