THE co-founder of Dorchester's famous chocolate shop has celebrated her 100th birthday.

Sprightly Christina Ungaretti toasted a century with family, friends and town crier Alistair Chisholm at a party in Castle View nursing home in Poundbury, with music from Sinatra and Friends by SG Productions.

Mrs Ungaretti said the secret to her long, healthy life is not chocolate but a shot of vinegar and honey that she takes every day.

She said: "Well I had plenty of chocolate when I had the shop but now I have a small glass of cider vinegar with a shot of runny honey - it has to be runny, and a little drop of water. I've had it for years.

"I don't overeat and I don't smoke and I worked very hard, although I don't now."

Mrs Ungaretti was born in Dorchester on May 9, 1907, the middle child of Henry and Francis Wintle.

The family moved to Weymouth in 1909 and Christina attended school, which she left when she was 14. After moving to Devon and Kingston on Thames, she found work in a confectionery and tobacco shop where she met Richard Ungaretti, six years her junior.

The couple married in 1937 and had a honeymoon on the Isle of Wight. After the Second World War, the Ungarettis ran a successful B&B in Hawkhurst, Kent until they retired to Dorset in the early 1960s.

They built their dream house 'Little Rivers' in Bradford Peverell but soon became bored with retirement and purchased a small confectionery shop The Dorset Maid in Dorchester which quickly became famous when Mr Ungaretti made his own chocolate on the premises.

It attracted customers including the Royal Family and was to become the House of Dorchester, now based in Poundbury.

Mrs Ungaretti said: "My husband's the founder of all the chocolates and they're still selling his chocolates.

Mr Ungaretti died in 2002, but his wife is still astounding those around her with her amazing health and still walks without the aid of a stick.

She took up art at the age of 96 and now produces watercolour floral cards for friends' birthdays.

Mrs Ungaretti said: "I enjoy making the cards, it helps me to forget how much I miss my husband - we were together 65 years, and it was my proudest moment when we opened up the shop in Dorchester."