John Cave from Ashwater is a familiar face to faithful devotees of Tavistock's WI cake stall in the Friday pannier market. Though he has now retired, his new project is to gather together as many true Devon recipes as he can for the jubilee cook book.
John said: 'I was born to the bakery trade, my father was a master baker before me and I've got records and recipes from all over, but I can find very little from Devon.
'I've found an awful lot from Cornwall, but it's amazing how little I've come up with from here.'
John is hoping his book, once published, will not only preserve traditional old recipes for posterity, but also give a boost to Devon and to Tavistock in particular.
'I'm Cockney born and bred, but I love it here,' he said.
John said there could be old recipes tucked away in cottage attics, or in grand country houses with old fashioned kitchens.
He said: 'There's a lot of very old Devon houses where there may well be archives with records of recipes we could use.
'I just think it's a different way of making a cookery book more interesting.'
John said it would be even nicer to find a traditional Tavistock recipe to include in the book, but he would like to hear from anyone who has their grandmother's or great grandmother's cookery notebooks tucked away, which might reveal more material for the book.
It is not the first time he has written a cookery book — Archer's Digest, a collection of recipes ranging from barley broth to lemon fluff — was written by John and dedicated to fellow archery enthusiasts.
John is working on the book project with Caroline Keane of Tavistock, who will provide the illustrations.
Caroline said: 'What we are aiming to do is a historical and geographical exploration of Devon's recipes.
'I'm doing the illustrations for it, which is exciting for me. They will be detailed sketches of buildings, houses, landscapes and centres in Devon.'
Caroline said John is 'very experienced' and has great knowledge of recipes and how to authenticate their origins.
As an example, one of the recipes they have come up with is called Mrs Jeremy's Hotpot.
Caroline said: 'That originated at a school in Exeter. It's a sort of vegetarian stew with cheese. It was actually created by a housemistress at the school, for children that didn't like meat.
'It was a boarding school and she had worked it all out to make sure they were getting the right amount of protein.'
Anyone who can help John and Caroline in their search for traditional culinary Devon delights should call 01409 211412 or 01822 610546.