WHEN Clare Gardiner produced her first batch of hand-made chocolates, there was a queue at the door waiting to buy them. Word had got round in Aysgarth.

The chocolates are delicious. And although that first batch was made only at the end of last year, Clare is already making a name for herself.

Not bad for someone who spent the previous ten years living up to her name and working as a gardener in Winchester. A bad back forced her out of gardening and into a change of direction. She considered instead buying a bigger house and starting a bed and breakfast business. "But Hampshire house prices were horrendous," she says.

Then two years ago chance brought her to the Mill Race teashop down by the bridge near Aysgarth Falls - a part of the world she'd visited only once before in her life.

"I just walked through the door and thought this is it," she says.

Full of enthusiasm, she re-fitted the kitchen, furnished and decorated the premises and looked forward to being busy catering for all those visitors.

"Then we had a wet August, followed by the fuel crisis, followed by flooding and then the foot-and-mouth crisis.

"You either give up and go and lie down in a dark room, or you get on with things and think of new ideas," she says.

Downstairs beneath the tea room was a room that Clare used to store her bike, odd bits of furniture, the lawnmower.

"I thought I should so something with that and discovered it had been a bakery. I considered making bread there again, but there are very good bakeries near here so I didn't want to do that. Somehow, my mind kept coming back to chocolate," Clare says.

Well, we all know that feeling.

By extraordinary coincidence in such a tiny place, one of Clare's neighbours has grandson who is a qualified chocolatier who was generous with his help and advice.

Making chocolate is a very tricky business. Like steel, it has to be tempered at just the right temperature in at least three separate processes. If you can't get that right, you're totally lost.

"I went to see if I could manage to temper chocolate. When I realised I could, I bought second hand moulds and started converting downstairs into a chocolate- making area," she says

After scouting round for equipment and getting up the ladder to do the painting, Clare then went on a chocolate-making course in Belgium to the Callebaut Institute.

"I have never worked so hard in my life," she admits.

Then she came back to Wensleydale made her first batch and has hardly stopped since.

"It's been amazing. It's just taken off," she says.

And no, she doesn't get sick of chocolate. She even buys a bar of Galaxy every morning from her village shop on the way to work.

She still runs the teashop - good coffee, nice cakes - but on Saturdays and Sundays others are in charge as she and assistant Emma Toward devote the day to making the chocs - 16 sorts of moulded chocolates in lovely shapes such as an orange jewel, champagne cork, jockey cap and four sorts of truffle. She uses the finest imported Belgian chocolate, some ready made fillings but is planning soon to start developing her own.

Although the working area is small, Clare encourages customers to come down the steps and watch.

"I like people watching, getting involved. People are often surprised at the precision involved in chocolate making. One degree out and it can go all wrong . Or the chocolate is too thick or goes a strange colour.

"One man asked me so many questions I thought he must be in the trade too. But no, he said he was an engineer but there's a lot of similarities.

"I like it when children are here because it's a real living science lesson for them with all sorts of processes involved and they tend to remember it because it's something they're interested in," she says.

Earlier this year Clare was awarded a Rural Recovery Grant which helped her launch a website and sell chocolates online, which is a terrific boost. Sales have soared.

"The tea shop's great but it's very seasonal. The best thing about chocolate is that people eat it all the year round - Christmas, Valentines, Mother's Day, Easter... there's always a good time for chocolate."

* The Little Chocolate Shop, Mill Race Teashop, Yore Mill, Aysgarth Falls. Tel: 01969 663446. Open daily from 10.am. www.thelittlechocolateshop.co.uk