In recession-hit times, it is probably the last place you would look to find a thriving business.

In recession-hit times, it is probably the last place you would look to find a thriving business.

However, tucked away in a former military camp about as far north as you can travel on the British mainland, Paul Maden and James Findlay are finding that demand for exotic chocolates has not slowed along with the rest of the economy.

Two years after starting up Cocoa Mountain, they are dispatching orders worldwide and have seen a growing demand for their product to be supplied for weddings and corporate functions.

At the Chocolate Bar the pair run in Balnakeil, a craft village in Durness originally built as an RAF early-warning base, visitors are streaming through the doors.

Nearby is Cape Wrath, the Vikings' "turning point", regularly pounded by shells from Nato warships - not what most would take as chocolate country.

However, their business has now expanded at such a rate that two weeks ago they had to move into new premises, a larger military building, and the workforce has grown to 14 in peak season.

Chocolate, the pair have discovered, is recession proof. In good economic times and bad, people eat plenty of it.

Before setting up the business, Mr Findlay, 35, from Rutherglen, was an IT specialist with IBM, while Mr Maden, 40, from Blackburn, worked at Paisley University as part-time lecturer and part-time adviser to students on how to set up a business. Both were enthusiastic hill walkers and travelled north for trips to the Sutherland hills.

Mr Maden said: "We both had often dreamed about having a place up here when we came up to walk but had never worked out how you could live. One time we were up and found a run-down building here in Balnakeil craft village was for sale for £17,000. It was a bit of a mess.

"In fact, written on the wall was, Welcome to the Bates Motel'. But the original idea wasn't to give up our jobs but to spend 10, 15 years doing up the place as a holiday base. That's what we were doing, but it got increasingly difficult to leave with all the craic up here. So eventually we didn't."

The pair realised they would have to do something to earn a living as their funds were reducing rather more rapidly than anticipated.

"Basically, reality hit," said Mr Maden. "We had all sorts of crazy ideas. Chocolate-making was only ever a hobby, but when a friend suggested it as a possible business we hit the internet."

They researched the state of the industry in the UK and fairly quickly found out there was a real opportunity.

The War Office built the village of concrete huts in 1955 at Balnakeil as a Cold War RAF early-warning base.

It was never used and in the 1960s it became a craft village which still boasts a bookshop, bistro, print makers, soap manufacturer, painters and woodworkers. From the start, the chocolates have been made without the use of artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives, and using ethically-sourced materials.

Even before they opened their doors to the business in June 2006, there were people trying to get in to buy the few truffles they had made. They had a tiny area with four seats looking out the window where they would serve hot chocolate and coffee with the larger area behind for preparation. One really wet day we had about 20 people squeezed in, mostly standing as they drank chocolate and ate their truffles.

"That's the only complaints we received, that there wasn't enough room," said Mr Findlay. Both are stunned at the public response to their business, with virtually every new visitor having learned of their existence through word of mouth.

They are now thinking about further expansion with Cocoa Mountain branches or franchises, ideally in Glasgow and Aberdeen.