As he jumped aboard the bread cart next to his father and trundled along the cobbled Somerset streets, schoolboy David Bryant knew he was part of something special.

Now, at 68, the retired master baker has put pen to paper to chart the illustrious history of his family which became one of the area's best known baking dynasties.

"It all began back in the 1800s when my great grandmother started baking bread from her house in West Somerset to feed the family," Mr Bryant, born and bred in Crewkerne, explains.

"But it went on from there and my grandfather set up his own bakery which was passed down through the family and ended with me."

Mr Bryant has collected photographs, anecdotes and memories from his family and other artisan bakers across Somerset and Dorset for The Bryant's Life – A Passage Through Time.

The book begins with his great grandmother Lavinia Slade who baked bread from her home in Roadwater, near Minehead, after the death of her husband James Bryant.

Desperate to make ends meet, she took to baking to keep the family afloat and when her son Wilfred, Mr Bryant's grandfather, was old enough, he decided to set up his own shop and carry on the tradition.

Mr Bryant said: "Wilfred married Sylvia Jewell and in 1910 they had to move.

"When the West Somerset Mineral Line closed, there was far less business so they decided to move to Greenham, not too far from Crewkerne, and carried on from there."

In 1927, they were on the move again and opened a shop in Crewkerne which continued to thrive from South Street until 2004 when Mr Bryant finally hung up his apron.

He said: "When grandfather died in 1948 my father Donald took over the business and worked in it until he died when he was 90.

"He worked until a week before he died, he was a baker through and through."

Mr Bryant officially joined the business, Bryant & Son, in 1958 and although it became one of his great passions, baking was not his first choice:

"I actually wanted to join the army," he said.

"I was in the Cadets and when my father asked me what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to be in the army. He said 'I don't think so son, we've got a business to run' so that was the end of that though.

"It worked out well in the end, I loved it.

"I had become a partner with my father and so carried on the business with my wife Margaret until we retired – the end of an era."

From bloomers to buns, the Bryants made them all and delivered batches across South and East Somerset from the South Street shop.

The family was well known and when the shop closed in 2004, part of South Street was named Bryant's Row.

Mr Bryant said: "We used to make everything ourselves, buns, bread, wedding cakes, whatever people wanted.

"In the 1960s we got a machine that could make 1,500 pasties an hour.

"It was a great job but my kids didn't want to take it on so that was part of the reason for closing.

"They didn't fancy getting up at 4am but I used to like that, it was the best part of the day – nice and quiet, no-one on the roads."

The book features other independent bakers from Somerset and Dorset and Mr Bryant has included a chapter on the challenges they face.

Supermarket giants are threatening the future of small business and Mr Bryant warns they are in danger of extinction.

He said: "It is very difficult these days. Where my shop used to be is a computer shop now, that's a sign of the times.

"The supermarkets dominate everything and that has been going on for quite some time, not just because of the recent downturn.

"Lots of them have closed but there are a few still going and they need our support. They're part of our heritage really and they have such skill in what they do."

The book, Mr Bryant's first, will raise cash for roof repairs on St Bartholomew's Church in Crewkerne.

He said: "I never thought about writing the book before I retired; I was always too busy to think about it. When I retired I saw all the ledgers and photos and I thought it would be nice to get something together.

"I've really enjoyed doing it and people seem to like it."

The book costs £14 and available from Phoenix Books in Crewkerne on 01460 76579 or via Mr Bryant on 01460 74422.