He propped her up in a makeshift seat out of harm's way.

They talked, for what must have seemed like hours; the smell of fresh bread, meat pies and sweet pastries thick in the air.

It was one of the many joys of growing up in a bakery, the youngest daughter of six siblings.

"I always wanted to do an apprenticeship with my dad but that's not how it turned out to be," she said.

Des and Margaret Fulford ran the Holbrook Bakery from 1965 to 1990.

They had moved from Lake Cargelligo, NSW, with their two sons before having three more and finally adopting a much-wanted daughter, Vicki.

While the boys had their chores around the Albury Street bakehouse, Vicki was younger and mostly helped her mum.

"Mum and Dad treated me like a bit of a princess I guess but I turned out to be a tomboy!" Vicki laughed.

"I loved my time growing up here though.

"We used to fight amongst us kids to help Dad load up the bakery oven!"

When Vicki returned to Holbrook from Western Australia about four years ago, the present Holbrook Bakery co-owners - Brad and Lisa Wheeler and Wes and Carla Black - offered Vicki an opportunity too good to refuse.

Vicki fulfilled her childhood dream when she gained her baker's apprenticeship in February.

"At 47 I became a qualified baker!" she said.

"I lived on this premises, which has so many good memories.

"I often laugh to think people are eating pies in Aunty Alice's room.

"The bathroom is in Mum and Dad's old room.

"It's kind of like my work home; it's a place I love dearly."

MORE LIFESYLE STORIES:

During September the Holbrook Bakery will celebrate its 120^th year of continuous production in the same Albury Street building.

James A Robertson founded Robertson's Bakery in 1899 on the premises at Germanton, known as Holbrook since 1915.

After four generations of Robertsons, the bakery went out of the family during 1951.

Holbrook Bakery head baker Brielle Perkins, who has worked for the business since 2001, said there had been many changes throughout her time.

"When I first started there wasn't much sourdough bread; now it's all sourdough," she said.

"When I was an apprentice we had the Scotch oven (installed in the 1920s) but we've had a rotary oven for five years now."

Holbrook Bakery has 32 staff, making it one of the biggest employers in the town.

It opened its second location in September 2011 to give travellers better access once the bypass was completed.

Everything is baked fresh daily at the Albury Street premises.

Holbrook Bakery opens seven days a week, excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.