A LAN AND HEATHER STACEY believe the ingredients for their happy and successful lives are "hard work, give and take and loyal customers".

With 40 years of marriage under their belt and a thriving business, they are now ready to take things easy but life has not always been easy for this hardworking couple.

Alan, who is the oldest of nine children, started earning his first wage when he was just 11 years old. After school each day, he would take himself off to Mr Copp's smallholding in Gas Lane, Torrington and bring in his herd of cattle. Every Saturday he would work an eight-hour day at the smallholding digging spuds and helping out with whatever was required for the sum of 10 shillings (50p) a week. Alan was always happy to give a percentage of his earnings to his parents to help with household expenses. Although Alan's family never had surplus money, he never felt he went without.

"Mum and dad worked hard and we all had a happy childhood playing together and helping out with the household chores," he said. Alan's holidays were spent with his "granny and grandfer" who lived a mile away and even on holiday, Alan enjoyed working and helping grandfer. "Grandfer had pigs at the back of his house and I remember walking up and down Mill Street collecting waste teddies and other vegetables which I would bring home. Grandfer and I would boil all the wastage up and put it in milk churns for winter food for the pigs," said Alan.

When Alan left school at 15, he started work immediately as an apprentice butcher helping kill the bullocks, which he then learnt to cut up and bone. He continued working as a butcher for £7 a week until he was 20. He was then offered a job with a £4 a week increase in wages and gave up butchery to work on a milk round covering the Torrington area.

When he was 17 he met Heather at a Torrington youth club. They married a few years later when Alan was 21 and Heather 22 and bought their first home in Torrington for just under £3,000. Alan continued to work the milk round and Heather stayed at home to look after their young boys, Gregory and Giles.

When Heather's mum, who worked part-time in Xanadu, a fruit and vegetable shop in town told Alan and Heather that the business was up for sale and said it "would be a good business to buy", they both thought long and hard about the possibility of doing just that. Gregory and Giles were 14 and 12 years old and Alan and Heather thought they could make a go of it and have a business, which the boys could have the option to work in when they left school.

Alan and Heather took over Xanadu in 1986 with Alan continuing with his milk round to subsidise the business. "I got up and started my milk round at 4.30am and when I finished my round at midday I would go straight to the shop and continue working until 8 or 9pm," said Alan. He continued working in this way for 12 months. Heather worked alongside Alan building up the business and the boys would come in after school to pre-pack potatoes and other odd jobs.

As the business started to prosper Alan and Heather invested in a van and Alan would take himself off to Bristol market at 2am on Tuesdays and Thursdays to pick the best produce and arrive back in Torrington at 8am when an employee would off-load the stock and Alan would retire to bed for a few hours rest. When they started supplying the Black Horse pub in Torrington with produce this side of the business started to grow and today they supply shops in outlying villages, restaurants, schools and residential homes throughout the area.

Alan and Heather will always be grateful to the loyal customers who helped them build their family business and some of the customers who shopped with them years ago enjoy home deliveries today. "We deliver to a lot of our customers who are now unable to come into town to shop with us and we are always happy to offer this service if people are unable to get to us for whatever reason," they said.

As well as fruit and vegetables, Xanadu stocks a huge variety of health foods and this side of the business expanded because of customer requests. "We have always tried to respond to our customer's needs and when some of our customers started asking for specific health foods we went out of our way to stock them," said Alan.

The health foods side of the business has grown over the years and continues to build as customers ask for more lines. "One of our customers who travelled to Barnstaple to purchase glucosamine for his joint pains asked if we could stock it for him and since we started stocking this product we have had several customers coming in purchasing it," said Alan. "We are always happy to stock something our customers want to buy on a regular basis as this keeps people shopping in the town."

Alan is now 62 and Heather is 63. They have now decided to slow down a little and reap the benefits of their hard work. They had their first fortnight holiday when they went on a Mediterranean cruise last year and they enjoyed it so much they are planning another trip this year.

Although Alan, is happy to slow down he is not yet ready to give up. "I love my work and although I enjoy working on a part-time basis and am happy to let my son, Giles, run the business I am not yet ready to pack up completely," he said.

For a man who has worked so hard all his life it is no wonder he finds it hard to stop but if anybody deserves to enjoy an easier and more relaxing life after working so hard over the years it most definitely is Alan and Heather.