A TAMAR Valley pasty maker is returning to Calstock after ceasing trading in the village only last year.

Popular pasty business, Over The Top Cornish Pasties currently based in Callington with their unique crimping on top style will be closing up shop in Callington and moving the business back to Calstock.

Pasty maker, Michaela Parry who created the business with the help of her daughter Kelly says multiple factors have influenced her decision but feels ‘the time is right’ to move the business back to the village to focus on family life and the love of making pasties.

The business will close the doors of its premises situated on Celtic Rd, Callington and will be opening up in Calstock mid-October in the old butchers shop just off Fore Street.

Michaela is looking forward to moving back to the village where she and her daughter both live alongside her two grandsons.

“There are only two of us running the business and my daughter is a single mother to two young children,” she said.

“Moving back will make our work-life balance better by being in the village.

“Most bakery businesses are in survival mode. If we’re less stressed and making a small living we’re happy with that at the moment.

“Calstock is our home village and we really love our community.”

She also explained that the decision has been influenced by rising energy costs coupled with the impact of car parking charges in Callington deterring people from the town, and by reducing the size of the unit this will ease the pressure on the team of two.

She said: “Callington has been fantastically supportive of us. We’ve been trading here for five or six years but when you look outside our units there used to be cars coming and going all the time and now its like a ghost town out there. Callington is dying on its feet at the moment.

“There are now seven pasty makers in Callington including Rowes in Tesco .

“With the parking charges now as well. A lot of our customers used to be people popping into Callington and coming to get a pasty. Well they’re not popping into Callington now.”

Michaela highlighted that since the introduction of the parking charges she has noticed a reduction in footfall of around 20-25 per cent.

“We’ve lost some of that customer base, plus the cost of electricity and running a big unit , it’s a lot of stress”, said Michaela .

“I’m at an age where I want to make life a bit simpler and we want to be really enjoying what we do. We want to concentrate again on making it the very best pasty we can make. Taking our time and making sure they are absolutely spot on perfect.

“When the economy picks up, we’ll see where we are with that really.”

The owner added that she hopes that re-opening in Calstock might encourage other businesses to trade in the village.

“It would be lovely to see more shops come into Calstock as it used to have everything there you could possibly want”.

Over The Top Cornish Pasties will also continue their online sales.