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South West England

Isles of Scilly

Toby and Louise Tobin-Dougan run the St. Martins Bakery on the Isles of Scilly, an admirable artisan bakery and winner of the Food Progamme's Best UK Food Retailer 2002. They have their own book coming out this Christmas (2004), which tells the story of the bakery and school, together with baking recipes. Toby collects sea lettuce (a type of seaweed) and dries it to use in their sun-dried tomato and feta loaf, using local herbs and potatoes for their pasties. And to go with the breads, they also smoke grey mullet and line caught salmon. Moo Green, St. Martins, Isles of Scilly, tel: 01720 423444 www.stmartinsbakery.co.uk

Cornwall

The Chough Bakery, 3 The Strand, Padstow, Cornwall. Both Robert and his partner Elaine are passionate about the baking that they do, and encourage baking excellence within the community. "We do everything we can to get people baking again", says Robert, "Often people come in to tell us about a problem their having with a cake recipes, or a pastry that isn't crisp enough, and we try and help them sort the problem out." Good bread and good advice. Tel: 01841 533361
elaine@thechough.demon.co.uk

Devon

Baking good bread for others is akin to a kind of thoughtful affection, and a integeral part of many communities. Down at the Twelve Tribes community at Stentwood Farm, spiritual values are as important to the process of baking as mixing and kneading - a view I support, believe in and encourage you to to follow. Many leaven based (sourdough) breads are baked, as well as more playful focaccia and flavoured loaves. Visit their website at www.commonloaf.com or at the Horniton, Totnes, Tiverton, Bristol, and Taunton Farmers Markets.
(check their website for details, or email bakery@commonloaf.com)

Bath

The Bath Bakery, 3-4 Chelsea Road, Lower Weston, Bath, BA1 3DU
(01225 421702)

Dorset

Long Crichel Bakery,Wimborne, Dorset BH21 5JU. tel: 01258 830 852
Open from 12.00 mid day until 6.00 pm Thursday & Friday and from 9:00am until 6:00pm on Saturday, or go to www.longcrichelbakery.co.uk

Cann Mill, in Shaftsbury, Dorset, is also the home of baker and stone-oven maestro Paul Merry's breadmaking courses, contact www.panary.co.uk

Using local flour milled by Michael Stoate at Cann Mill, as well as Organic flour from Tamarisk Farm, the bakers at Leakers Bakery in the pretty seaside village of Bridport in Dorset produce a range of traditional breads constructed using slow ferments and careful mixing. And, of course, good old fashioned cakes and pies. Leakers Bakery, 29 East Street, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3JX Tel 01308 423296

Central Southern England

Winchester

Sometimes the best place to taste good bread is in one of those remarkable restaurants that are concerned enough to employ a baker simply to make the best possible bread. Where good local flour from either the talented Michael Stoate’s mill (for the rye and wholemeal), or the mighty Heygates (for a white T55 or a stronger flour), is combined with a nurtured sourdough from master doughman Paul Merry. A restaurant with a kitchen garden where handfuls of the freshest and greenest herbs are picked and mixed into the dough without losing a smidgen of aroma. “That’s usually great”, says head baker Adrian Chant at Lainston House Hotel , “unless the aphids have got to them”. Having stepped into baking at the end of the industrial generation, expect a meld of careful slow rise doughmaking with sharp shaping skills. On the table at lunch will be a selection of breads sliced by hand, maybe a traditional baguette, a pane Marino (with sea-salt and aphid-less rosemary), a pain de Campagne ( a wholemeal/rye/white loaf using a portion of sourdough) and a mixed seed pan Gallego. In the evening it’s the elegance of little rolls in a basket. Lainston House Hotel, Sparsholt, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2LT, tel 01962 863 588 www.exclusivehotels.co.uk

Henley-on-Thames

Nicola Taylor wrote to suggest the addition of Lawlors bakery to this list. "It is a real family of bakers", she writes, "Anne Baker is the owner and her son Christopher is the baker. They have been baking in Henley-on-Thames for over 50 years and are constantly trying to keep up with the current trendy breads whilst still producing the old fashioned Farmhouse, Bloomers etc. Are they the only bakers still making Lardy cake?" They might indeed be, Nicola. But do let me know if there are any other sightings of the southern England’s rare lardy cake. Though Lawlors did have a shop bakery in Market Place, Henley-on-Thames, they now just do wholesale available at the best pubs, restaurants and village shops in South Oxfordshire. For stockists contact Lawlor's The Bakers, Empstead Works, off Deanfield Avenue, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon. Tel (01491) 572018

Oxford

"I started to bake really because we lacked a good baker in the town", says Kate Bitnead, the founder of the Old Farmhouse Bakery, in Steventon. They produce a good range of loaves, without the flimsy crumb typical of cheap bread, yet with a reassuring sturdiness to the crust. The oven Kate bakes in is an old Collins Tridex, built in 1939, and originally part of the old local bakery. "I thought about trying to take over the bakery from the original baker", says Kate, "but when I measured the space he had, it worked out the same size as our old cart shed on the farm. So instead of taking over the bakery, we moved the oven, brick by brick, to our farm." The local baker worked at the farm for a little while before he retired, and after that it was up to Kate and her team. The bakery produces traditional English loaves, together with an Organic Sunflower, a Wholemeal and a Farmhouse, using flour from Clarks Wessex flour mill. "We do use flour from different mills, as they all have something different to offer. But we try to stay loyal to our suppliers, and support what they do."
Old Farmhouse Bakery, Steventon nr Abingdon OX13 6RP (01235 831230).

Banbury

Bread & Co is run by brothers Matthew and Richard Rawlings, who together with a friend Andrew decided to invest and support Matthews talent for bread-making and start an artisan baking business out near Banbury. "Matthew had been baking at home and for friends, whilst his engineering work let him travel to every continent around the world, you name it, he's been there. And this gave him the idea to make some of the breads he'd seen on his travels here in Oxfordshire". They supply Hilltop Farm (Fosse Way, Hunningham, Leamington Spa, CV33 9EL. tel 01926 632978), Medlars Farm Shop at Snitterfield Fruit Farm (Kings Lane, Snitterfield, Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire. tel: 01789 731711), as well as the main town markets in Kenilworth, Stratford-upon-Avon, Morton-in-Marsh, and Southam (and, later in 2004, the local farmers markets). The dough is mixed using flour from Shipton Mill, but next year they will have their own grain to mill. "A local farmer made 40 acres available to us", says Richard, "so we've sown most of it will Maris Widgen. If the harvest is good, Shipton will mill it for us next year and then we'll bake with it and sell it on to other bakers. We're planting an acre of poppy and an acre of linseed to use in baking. We're passionate about this. In my lifetime I've seen a lot of traditions disappear, and we though by baking using traditional methods we help keep good bread a part of our life."
Bread & Co, Tuthill Park, Wardington (near Banbury), Oxfordshire, OX17 1RY.
tel 01295 758 489, fax 01295 758 991 enquiries@breadandco.co.uk

Hampshire

Nigel Connor took over Harvest Delicatessen & Bakery earlier this year, and works with baker Ralph Bendall making a good selection of traditional breads, including black olive bread, walnut bread ("a truly excellent loaf", says Nigel), using a mix of flour from Heygates and Wrights. Fridays, and Saturday morning are the busiest, so for a quieter time try and get in early in the week. 44-46 West Street, Alresford, Hants SO24 9AU (01962 733189) (contact Jeffrey Webb)

Gloucestershire

Authentic Bread Company (organic), Strawberry Hill Farm, Strawberry Hill, Newent, Gloucestershire. For stockists 01531 828 181 or www.authenticbread.co.uk

Bristol

Alex at Fresh and Wild in Bristol told me about Herbert's bakery, who are doing some very good baking in Bristol. Mary Herbert is one of the owners, and the bakery has been part of her husband's family over three generations. "It was sort of 'marry my husband, marry his bread'", she laughs. "We decided, with all the cheap and cheerful bread available in the supermarkets, to move into the quality end of bread baking. Partly because we couldn’t compete on price, but also because we felt our customers lives had altered slightly, that the world seemed a smaller place, and that our customers were looking for breads influenced by other cultures". So Herbert's now make an olive bread, and Scandinavian rye bread using their own leaven, as well as a large selection of traditional breads and cakes. The area of Montpelier in Bristol is home to residents from diverse cultures, and this not only affects what they sell but the look of the bakery as well. "We have one very long wall that was always being tagged [a kind way of saying defaced] by local youths. So we asked a group of local graffiti artists to spray paint a mural on the wall. There are three Constable scenes in the background, and in the foreground a hole in the wall has been painted, with a gingerbread man running away". You can see the wall at www.about-bristol.uk, or see the bread at www.herbertsbakery.co.uk.
Herbert's Bakery, Wellington Avenue, Montpelier, Bristol BS6 5HP. Tel 0117 924 7713 Fax 0117 942 5807 enquiries@herbertsbakery.co.uk

Hobbs House Bakery (organic/some mail order) supplies many outlets, and has shops at 39 High Street, Chipping Sodbury, BS17 6BA, as well as in Bristol and at 4 George Street, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, where oven builder Paul Merry has installed a Panary 1 metre oven with an under furnace. Says Paul, "This type of oven is designed specifically for bread baking, as oposed to the other pizza oven type, and permits the use of a damper and retains the heat for a long time". Hobbs House Bakery, for wholesale details, tel 01453 839396 or visit: www.hobbshousebakery.co.uk The breads are also available from Fresh and Wild, 85 Queens Road, Bristol.  tel 0117 910 5930.

 

South East England

Kent

Ingrid Greenfield's Artisan Bread is perhaps the only example of breads that use grain grown to principles set out by the Demeter biodynamic association. Encompassing a broader range of values than those required to be certified organic, Demeter Biodynamics asks that the farmer accept a wholistic approach to soil husbandry and agriculture. The grain for the loaves is milled daily, and the resulting bread rather nutty in taste and mildly sweet. Available from their factory shop, Mon - Thurs, at 16/17 John Wilson Business Park, Reeves Way, Whitstable CT5 3QZ or for stockists, go to www.artisanbread.ltd.uk . Baker Toby Schwenn (who has a band in Berlin, torn between baking bread and music) has produced a good little video to sell that bread to you. Click here to view it (requires Quicktime viewer)

Baker Martin Flynn, at Oscars Bakery in Faversham, use flour from Wrights, the millers, who try whereever possible to supply flour milled from local grain to the bakery. Martin bakes a selection of around 14 types of bread, including an Irish batch loaf with a charred top and torn crustless sides, as well as Chelsea buns, Eccles and Belgian buns.
3 Limes Place, Preston Street, Faversham, Kent. ME13 8PQ Tel 01795 532218 or 01795 591748

Baker Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, (nee Matt Jones's baker when Flour Power opened, and later opened the bakery at Daylesford Farm Shop) together with his partner Lisa have taken up the challenge set by Jo Fairley and Craig Sams (the founders of Green & Black's chocolate and described by the Observer as “Britain's coolest organic couple”) at Judges Bakery, 51 High St, Old Town, Hastings. Their aim is to both keep their local bakery in business and turn it fully organic, whilst keeping the locals happy with a familiar selection of morning bits and breads, like farmhouse loaves baked in the old tins. All the flour is from Shipton Mills. Look for little treats like fresh cooked apple in the turnovers (yes, it's a sorry land we're in when “fresh apple” has become a rare find on a baker's shelf). There are Chelsea buns, Eccles cakes, alongside tea cakes, cottage loaves and bloomers.
Judges Bakery, 51 High St, Old Town, Hastings, TN34 3EN, tel 01424 722588
open Monday – Saturday, 8am – 5pm.

Sussex

“The big challenge faced when running a small bakery in a traditional community like Bexhill, which has both traditional older locals and a more adventurous, younger people as customers, lies in adapting to the times each group want to shop, and making sure that the right breads are on sale at the right time,” says baker Lee Smith, who together with his partner Kirsty run the Bexhill Farm Kitchen. (their website is at www.farmkitchen.co.uk) Lee had been head baker at London's Dorchester Hotel, spending years in a long commute from Eastbourne to the West End before feeling it was time to set up a bakery closer to home. Over the last 18 months the two have got the Bexhill bakery well again after 4 years of neglect.
“I'd looked at the bakery for five years before finally getting it” says Lee. “I had put a note in with the previous owner but he decided to sell it to one of his employees. Over the next few years the bakery became very rundown, and everything was brought in. Towards the end, he was even buying bread from another bakery across the street to put on his shelves. And at that point we were able to buy the bakery from him. What I always liked about it was that you could see through into the bakery from the shop, so there was a sense that the bread was being baked on site. The shop had double doors at the front, and a very rustic look to the space.”
The Bexhill Farm Kitchen transform from a Monday to Friday traditional bakery into a Saturday speciality bakery, maintaining the appeal for these two strands of good and loyal customers. “Just this morning”, says Lee, “one of the weekday older customers was in to say how happy he was with the white split tin loaf. Then at the weekend the sales really bulge, and we make and sell much more of the more complex flavoured breads, the herb and olive oil loaves, walnut and sultana, the 100% rye and the roasted tomato loaves.” At the moment breads like commercial yeast free sourdough are made to order, as well as the more open textured white breads.
Bexhill Farm Kitchen , 16a Western Road, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, TN40 1DX, tel 01424 215 470, email info@farmkitchen.co.uk

Cyrnel [pronounced kernel] Bakery was started in 1972, when it was owned by Tablehurst Farm (then run by Emerson College, a Steiner teacher training institute, in order to teach biodynamic agriculture) to provide an outlet for their harvest of biodynamic grain. Tablehurst later sold the bakery, and five years ago Helen Harrison took over, having worked teaching catering before embracing breadmaking as a career. "Though we have about 20 different breads that we make," says Helen, "there are 8 we make every day. But in addition we'll have 2 or 3 specials on each day, like walnut bread, or rye and caraway, or date and multigrain." Their spelt bread is very popular, as well as their mixed white and wholemeal with a sesame crust. Helen shares the baking work now, generally working days and covering the nights when he's off. Most of the produce they use is sourced locally, using farm eggs and local fruit in season.
Cyrnel Bakery, Lower Road, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5HE Tel: 01342 822283, available from Lewes Farmers Market

Helen Harrison also told me about the excellent leaven bread Marcus McGowan is baking at Nutley Hall, a residential home for the care and education of mentally handicapped people. The baking is part of a therapeutic workshop Marcus runs for people with learning difficulties, supplying bread to The Seasons wholefood store (10-11 Hartfield Road, Forest Row, East Sussex  RH18 5DN. tel: 01342 824 673), and Old Plaw Hatch Farm shop (Plawhatch Lane, Sharpthorne, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 4JL. tel: 01342 810 652), as well as a small shop at the bakery where the public can buy bread and cakes. Though the bakery has been running for 13 years, Marcus has been baking here for the last 5 and is building up a following in the local community for his richly flavoured dark rye bread (using 100% rye flour, and commercial yeast free), a 100% spelt loaf, as well as 'white' versions of both (using half wheat flour mixed with either rye or spelt), a Granary loaf white white and wholewheat flour combined with toasted malthouse flakes, olive oil and sea salt, as well as other good breads, cakes, biscuits and breakfast cereals.
The Bakery at Nutley Hall, Nutley Hall, High Street, Nutley, Uckfield, East Sussex, TN22 3NJ. tel 01825 714 007

"There's been a bakery on this site since 1740", says Andy Turner-Cross, the baker at Slindon Bakery. Though it closed after the second World War, when Andy came to live at the property 22 years ago, he found the remains of an old bakehouse at the back of the building. "It was like the Mary Rose", says Andy, "this great old bakery with a wood burning oven. So I got the idea to start bread baking. This was the early 1980s and people thought I was mad. I was fairly purist in my approach to baking and that helped keep me focused. We spent the next year refitting the bakery, restoring the wood fired oven, and working at other bakeries to learn breadmaking, then got the Slindon bakery up and running again. The old oven was excellent, but after 15 years it started to crumble severely and as the building was Grade II listed it was difficult to replace it with another stone oven. So now we have an electric". Andy's approach to the flour he uses is still refreshing inspired, with the wholemeal flour coming from the Lurgashall watermill at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in Singleton (which he uses in his Sussex Kibbled loaf), and rye flour and spelt from Calbourne Watermill in the Isle of White. Most of the bread is sold through farmers markets, and they manage to get to 40 markets a month (including the Hampshire farmers market), though bread is also sold through local health food shops and delicatessens.
Slindon Bakery, Slindon Top Road, Slindon, West Sussex, BN18 0RP (Tel: 01243 814369)

 

Anglia

Suffolk

Michael Goetz, a young German-born artisan who has set up an excellent small wholesale bakery, All Natural, supplying delicatessens, shops and restaurants around his Bury St. Edmonds base. The loaves have a light crisp crust, and a soft slightly sour crumb, mainly organic, and are mixed and baked in small batches. Also, he sells a range of demeter and/or organic flours and grains, and organic fresh yeast (from Germany). Either email at michael@allnaturalbakery.co.uk or visit his website at www.allnaturalbakery.co.uk , or telephone 07956 026 630

Cambridge

Alan Ackroyd began baking late in life, but has moved quickly to establish his organic Cobs Bakery in Cambridge. There’s the website, at www.cobsbakery.com which lists useful dietary information on each loaf, telling you what loaf is dairy-free, what contains commercial yeast. There are home baking classes held on the quiet Saturday afternoons, covering sourdough and rye bread-making. And the bakery gets out to as many farmers markets as they can, at Thetford, Huntingdon, St Ives, Ramsey, Linton, Braintree, Thetford, Shelford, as well as selling at Daily Bread in Cambridge. For other stockists go to their website or telephone 01223 241207

Essex

Graham Dunton, at Unifine, rang about a loaf that he liked from a baker called Adam Windsor, based at The Food Company in Colchester. The company hosts a large group of independent specialist food producers and retailers under one roof, a food hall of sorts, and the bakery is a part of that. The loaf was a cheese, onion and thyme bread - a 400g loaf made up of four round pieces of dough mixed with fresh cheddar, parmesan onion and thyme. Graham tells me it's excellent, so I thought I'd track the baker. Adam trained at the Colchester Institute, then took himself off to Switzerland. After returning for some hotel work in the England, Adam teamed up with Dan Schickentanz at De Gustibus, when he opened at the Food Company. Adam took over the concession from Dan 4 years ago, and it's been excellent for him. Outside of shoppers at the Food Company, Adam bakes for Le Talbooth Restaurant in Dedham, as well as the Milsoms Hotel. He makes focaccia topped with Parma ham and parmesan, as well as dinner rolls and the obligatory white and granary loaves. One of the latest loaves is the Autumn Sun, made with Edme malted grains. Mike Boley is the pastry chef, producing the sweet things for the bakery. There is a lot of sharing and co-operation amongst the suppliers at the Food Company. "We get organic mince for the sausage rolls from the butcher next door", says Adam, "and in return we give them bread for breadcrumbs that they use." The bakery has just moved to a new, enclosed space within the Food Company, giving the shop a neater appearance. And, should there be any day-old bread, this goes to feed the elephants and monkeys at Colchester Zoo.
The Food Company, London Rd, Marks Tey, Colchester, Essex, CO6 1ED Tel: 01206 214 000 Fax: 01206 214019.
info@thefoodcompany.co.uk

Norfolk

Groom's Bakery, Market Place, Burnham Market, Kings Lynn, Norfolk (Tel: 01328 738289)
Opened in 1927, and very much a family business, the breads are healthy, contemporary in flavour and respectful of the natural grain.

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