Sunday 2 March 2014

Wanted: a life in the hills with a daily dose of Real Bread

So, it's been a while since my last post. In that time, I have of course baked, and baked some more, led workshops, spent a wonderful three days at the School of Artisan Food on their Advanced Bread Making course and looked into every opportunity I could find to make my rural bread making dream come true. And here we are...

I still remember my very first tweet:

'Wanted: a life in the hills with a daily dose of Real Bread.'

It was retweeted by the Real Bread Campaign to their (at that time) 12,500 followers. It got me thinking 'I couldn't be that mad, surely?'. And so my journey began.

One year on I received a tweet from Peter Cook, an award-winning Head Baker at S C Price & Sons in Ludlow. I'd already seen that he was setting up a new bakery but he was looking for a pastry chef so I didn't give it another thought. However, he tweeted to ask if I was still looking to make the move from London and become a full-time baker. He'd come across me and my mission through my write up of the Real Bread Get Together last January - where we'd clearly both been in the same room. I confirmed that this was most definitely the case.

He followed up by email talking me through his plans to set up a Real Bread bakery in Ledbury. He'd already put in a proposal for a 17th Century barn just off the high street to convert it into a bakery / workshop / community space. My heart soared, it sounded idyllic. He went on to say that he was looking for someone with a) a flair for confectionery and b) a passion to put the bakery at the heart of the community. And here is where I had to put my reality hat on. Confectionery was not where my passions lay. It wouldn't be fair to him or to me to say any different. I wrote back to say that I most certainly had the same vision in setting up a bakery and school to be established at the heart of the community, but despite a life long dream of setting up a cake shop in the hills, it was only since I had discovered the joy of baking bread that I realised I'd found my true path in life and I wished him all the luck in the world in his new venture. The next day was a Monday and off I went into work feeling glum but trying to think that someday one of these opportunities would be the one.

I saw I had an email back around 11am that day but I couldn't face reading it until the evening as I was pretty sure what it was going to say. However, he had responded to say that this was not a sticking point and that the bakery would very much be focused on all things bread to begin with, focusing largely on wholesale, and that other lines would be developed once the high street outlet was in place.

He'd also sent through his proposal to the Council for the restoration and development of the barn. After reading this through I couldn't believe just how much this mirrored my own proposal I'd put together for a space in the Lake District back in June.

He asked if I'd be willing to reconsider joining him on this Real Bread adventure.

What else could I say?

We arranged to speak the following weekend, and after a promising chat, I took the train to meet with Peter and see the town of Ledbury for myself a couple of weeks later. I went with a clear head, I had to be sure this was right for me. Would we get on? Could we see ourselves working side-by-side, day after day? And what about Ledbury? When I'd first set out I'd pinned my dreams on Abergavenny, surrounded by hills, with an established food festival and growing cycling festival. It's where FuelStopBread was born. However, upon visiting the town I quickly came to realise that this was not the place for me. I just couldn't see myself living there. Would Ledbury be the same?

On arrival the market town was bustling with people on what appeared to be a thriving high street full of local producers and independent retail outlets. The vibes were much better. We chatted, walked about the town and met up the following day to explore the area some more and look at a couple of potential sites for the wholesale unit.

I went away with my mind full of possibilities. Thankfully Christmas was just around the corner so this gave us both some time to think everything through. We'd talked openly about what each of us would be looking to achieve through the bakery and how we saw it developing. I couldn't believe I'd found someone who shared the same passion and had the same mission as my own. What better foundation for a business partnership? And more to the point, we listened to the same radio stations - all important for working in a bakery!

Upon returning to work in January my mind was made up. I just couldn't turn this opportunity down, it realised all my dreams and more. After another couple of trips to Ledbury to confirm the wholesale unit, meet with potential customers and discuss the parameters of the partnership, the time had come. And so, on Thursday 30th
January, I sat down with my boss and explained that I was leaving to set up a Real Bread bakery and school in Herefordshire. My whole body was trembling with nerves, excitement and every emotion you can imagine. I couldn't have asked for a better response, everyone was so happy and supportive of what I was going to do. And for the past four weeks I've been riding the wave.

As of yesterday, I'm no longer a London resident. I've upped sticks from the big smoke and am currently sat in a kitchen, in a village, just outside of Ledbury. I still have to keep pinching myself to believe it's all real. In the coming weeks, I'll be rolling out of bed in the early hours each morning and getting on my bike for the five minute commute to our bakery unit just down the road.

You can follow our adventures here for now, I plan to be setting up our bakery blog very soon!

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