Antique bread oven leaves restorer 'speechless'

Olly Osborne is the only specialist historic oven restorer in the UK

A specialist antique oven restorer, commissioned to overhaul an abandoned Victorian bread oven for a TV show, said it was "fantastic" to get it baking again.

Olly Osborne, from Saltford, Somerset, said he had "long been fascinated" by the historical value of heritage ovens.

Mr Osborne is thought to be the only specialist antique oven restorer in the UK.

"I'd read about steam tube ovens, but I'd never seen one and I was basically speechless - it was a really fantastic find," he said.

The oven - a 19th Century revolutionary steam tube model - was found tucked away in a derelict grocer's shop by the producers of Channel 4 series Our Yorkshire Shop: A Victorian Renovation.

Mr Osborne has a workshop alongside the River Avon in Saltford.

Mr Osborne said he had a particular interest in the the special place ovens have traditionally played in people's lives.

"They weren't just a random appliance built by robots in a faraway land – but something that was connected to the community.

'Ovens tell a story'

"They represented the household chores and the household story happening around those fires – bathing babies, cooking dinners, having baths; it was such a hub of domestic life.

"They were built by hand, by people, with materials that were brought out of the ground and forged into shapes and they have a much greater story - a greater connection," he said, adding that he has worked on a variety of equipment.

"I do everything from canal boats and gypsy caravans, to living vans towed behind steam engines, little cottages, potting sheds, railway stations, big houses and museums.

"We're doing a restaurant over in Los Angeles at the end of the year - we get around," he said.

Mr Osborne restores a wide variety of historic ovens - many well over a century old

The television series - set in Masham, a small town in the Yorkshire Dales - followed Mr Osborne over several months as he worked on the ancient oven.

Mr Osborne, who said he had been taken aback when he first saw the heritage oven, managed to fire it up and get it baking again.

His efforts can be seen in Our Yorkshire Shop: A Victorian Restoration on Channel 4, Sundays at 20:00 BST.