Use a local loaf for National Bread Week

A major high street brand is promoting National Bread Week (Monday 7 to Sunday 13 May) but Cumbrian breadmakers are offering something a bit different for those who appreciate a loaf with more local character.

“We have worked with various different bakeries across the county over the years,” explains Pauline Herbert, Programme Director with Distinctly Cumbrian, a programme that is delivered by Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency. “It has been really encouraging to see how these baking businesses – for the bigger brands like Bells of Lazonby through to the smaller artisan bakers - have thrived and grown. As well as grants, we have been able to help with advice and practical support on distribution – always a challenge for a bakery – and procurement, getting locally baked bread and cakes into Cumbrian shops, hotels and businesses.”

Some of the bakeries that are offering the best of Cumbrian artisan baking include:

• Broughton Village Bakery in Broughton in Furness

• Munx Lakeland Bakery in Staveley (formerly Le Pain de Paris) which won both the best bread and the best bakery and confectionery class at the NW Fine Food Awards earlier this year

• Millstones Bakery in Bootle near Millom on the west coast

• Moody Baker Co-Op Limited in Alston which won the NW Rural Retailer of the Year Award 2007 from the Countryside Alliance

• Mr Jack Flapjack in Kendal

• The Staff of Life in Kendal

“These bakeries are all doing good business based on quality,” says Ian Winchester, Distinctly Cumbrian’s Development Officer for Distribution. “There are also the bigger names such as Brysons of Keswick, The Village Bakery in Melmerby and Bells of Lazonby, all delivering bread locally and also extending further afield with more specialist products such as OK Foods for special diets from Bells.”

And Cumbria is contributing to home breadmaking across the country too with Carrs Flour Mills of Silloth providing breadmaking flour nationally and The Watermill at Little Salkeld offering courses for adults, children and families.

“We love what we do,” says Aidan Monks of Munx Lakeland Bakery, ”and it is encouraging when good bread is appreciated and enjoyed. I hope that people will try something baked locally for National Bread Week and get a taste for better bread.”

Caption
Ian Winchester of Distinctly Cumbrian with a selection of the locally baked bread stocked at the award-winning Westmorland Farm Shops off the M6 near Tebay.

Notes
Distinctly Cumbrian was established in 2001 to regenerate and strengthen the rural economy of Cumbria by supporting the production, distribution and marketing of local produce.

The organisation is funded by the North West Development Agency and the European Regional Development Fund and it is managed by the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA).

East The Watermill, Little Salkeld 01768 881523
North Moody Baker, Alston 01434 382003
South Munx Lakeland Bakery, Staveley 01539 822102
Staff of Life, Kendal 01539 738606
West Millstones Bakery, Bootle 01229 718577

See also:

www.bellsoflazonby.co.uk
www.village-bakery.com
www.organicmill.co.uk
www.carrsbreadmaker.info
www.brysonsofkeswick.co.uk