This work presents the first direct study of adhesion forces, by colloidal force microscopy, between smooth PLA films representing the polymer matrix, and a microbead of cellulose that mimic the cellulose material in flax fibres. Normalised adhesion force measurements have shown the importance of capillary forces when experiments were carried out under ambient conditions. Experiments, conducted under dry air, allowed for the deduction of the contribution of pure van der Waals forces, and our results, through the calculation of the Hamaker constant, show that these forces, for the PLA/cellulose/air system, were lower than those obtained for the cellulose/cellulose/air system and hence underlined the importance of optimising the interface among these materials. This study demonstrates the capacity of AFM to probe direct interactions in complex systems by adjusting the nature of the surface and the probe to mimic the materials in contact. Furthermore, the technique can be operated in a variety of environments, consistent with composite making and provides particular opportunity for testing and improving the properties of these new classes of composite materials.