Nathan Boon, who is now in charge of the kitchen at the White Horse, Overstrand, prides himself on dishing up only locally-produced, freshly-cooked food.

Nathan Boon, who is now in charge of the kitchen at the White Horse, Overstrand, prides himself on dishing up only locally-produced, freshly-cooked food.

But, while his kitchen boasts state-of-the art equipment, there is one modern appliance he is happy to do without.

According to Nathan, microwave ovens, while time-saving, are a sign of a lazy cook. For this reason he prefers to prepare all the dishes on the White Horse menu from scratch.

As well as smoking his own salmon and growing his own tomatoes and herbs in the pub's garden, Nathan and his team serve only home-baked bread and locally-sourced meat, fish and vegetables.

Born at Ipswich, Nathan never knew his father, and he and his two sisters were brought up at North Creake by mum Julie.

A lifelong Manchester United fan, he dreamt of being a footballer as a youngster, but, after a spell at the King's Lynn FC academy, he decided the next-best thing was to become a physiotherapist.

Finding the theory side of his course hard going, Nathan, then 18, jumped at the opportunity of abandoning physiotherapy to train as a commis chef at the White Horse, Brancaster, where he had worked part-time as a kitchen porter since the age of 14.

He took to cooking instantly and went on to study for an NVQ in catering at City College Norwich, before leaving Brancaster to work as a commis chef at Titchwell Manor, where he went on to cook for celebrities including actor Rupert Everett, musician David Gray and comedian Les Dennis.

After three years, Nathan, then 21, worked his way up to head chef at Titchwell. But, keen to be in charge of his own kitchen rather than working under an executive chef, he decided to look for another job.

Since taking over at Overstrand's White Horse in 2007, Nathan has transformed the pub's bar and restaurant menu to include his own recipe dishes, ranging from Morston mussels mariniere and Cromer crab with pancetta salad to Norfolk wild mushroom tagliatelle and Holkham venison with poached pear.

Despite working up to 10 hours a day, seven days a week in summer, Nathan still finds time to devise new recipes and to play football with a local team.

Recently, he met his two half-sisters for the first time after being put in touch through the social networking website, Facebook. When not working, Nathan enjoys spending time with his wife Adele, whom he married in Greece last year, and their spaniel Bobby.