The smell of success is mingling with the scent of freshly baked bread at a Bath cookery school.

City baker and cookery writer Richard Bertinet has been named BBC Food Champion of the Year.

French-born Mr Bertinet, owner of The Bertinet Kitchen and Bakery in St Andrew's Terrace, received the award at the BBC Radio Food & Farming Awards 2010.

Mr Bertinet was nominated by listeners of Radio 4's Food Programme, who were asked to pick the person who had inspired them to think differently about food and increase their passion for cooking.

Mr Bertinet said: "I am delighted that through my baking books, bread-making classes and our new bread range, I have been recognised as having brought about a greater understanding of good bread.

"I hope that this award will encourage even more people to take a look at the bread they eat, to buy real bread and to have a go at making their own."

Mr Bertinet's love of food has developed since the age of 14 when he became a baker's apprentice in his native Brittany.

He now divides his time between his cookery school, The Bertinet Kitchen, and running The Bertinet Bakery, which produces a range of organic loaves available in Riverford Organic delivery boxes and from Selfridges in London.

The cookery school has enjoyed a steady rise to national prominence since it opened in 2005.

It offers a range of courses for food lovers, along with baking classes for both the public and the catering trade.

Last September, Mr Bertinet expanded the school on to a second floor to meet demand.

In 2008, The Bertinet Kitchen received a South West Tourism Excellence Award, and Mr Bertinet's cookery books have also been highly praised.

His most recent title, Cook, was published in the summer.