And the winner is... Peace and Loaf Bakehouse

Three years seems like a short time to turn a passion for baking into a national award-winning shop, but given just how much hard work Caroline Davis and her partner, expostman Lucas Hogg, have poured into their small artisan bakery in Barrowin-furness, Cumbria, you understand how well-deserved the award is. Lucas explains how it all began.

‘I didn’t know anything about baking but Caroline has always loved cooking, then I watched her make a loaf of bread for the first time and became hooked on the magic of the process – I still am. I spent a lot of time reading, practising and learning, and I wanted to do it all day every day. We started out in our tiny kitchen selling at tabletop sales and food markets, and we quickly realised that good bread was something people really wanted, and finally opened our bakehouse in Barrow Market Hall.’ The bakery now breathes life into the centre of the town, which is one of the most deprived areas in Cumbria, but they had to prove the sceptics wrong. ‘We’ve always set out to be a real bread bakery. Everything we sell is made on site. We bake the traditional way, no artificial ingredients or additives, and we use as many organic and local ingredients as possible. People said we were crazy to open a real bread shop in this town but from the moment we opened the door, we were flat-out and still are.’ facebook.com/peaceandloaf