At this year’s Great Taste Awards we were delighted to win the coveted 3 STAR GOLD award for our Wild Garlic Bread.

Here at The Thoughtful Bread Company we love our foraging. What better than to use the fruits of nature’s wild larder to produce something a little special.

The Judges had this to say:

“Lovely crusty appearance and good texture. Greenness adds to attractive appearance and the flavour balance is quite superb.”

Our bread was later featured on BBC Radio 2′s Drivetime show, presented by Simon Mayo, where resident chef Nigel Barden (judging the awards) served up our bread live on air.

The Wild Garlic season is very short, so look out for our loaves when they are on sale, as they don’t hang around! We also produce a rather tasty Wild Garlic Pesto. Sort of our locally-sourced variant of the popular pesto, made to our secret recipe.

Other awards included Gold 1 Star for our Great White Sourdough, Spelt Sourdough and Light Rye Sourdough.

Find out more:

Click here to view this year’s winners

When Ross (the current bread shop man down in Green Park) flew off on honeymoon, I was lucky enough to help out in the Thoughtful Bread Co’s Green Park Market shop for a couple of weeks.

And what a great two weeks that was! I’d forgotten how much I loved retail (I used to manage a teddy bear shop in another life!) and very soon felt at home with my apron on, surrounded by hundreds of freshly baked loaves…heaven! I’d spent some time with Duncan beforehand so, after getting to know each loaf, set about selling my wares to the good folk of Bath!

I met so many great people, people who really love their food. From rosemary foragers to cheese addicts, everyone was fun and friendly. Thoughtful Bread Co customers are a discerning bunch and rightly so. They love the products and are passionate about taste, ingredients and quality – I guess that’s why they love Thoughtful.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Thoughtful – I love what they stand for and what they do. Good luck with future plans fellas – I hope I can hang out with you again one day.

Neil Whitehead (PR and Thoughtful Bread Co enthusiast)

Founder of The Thoughtful Bread Company scoops “Food Hero” award at this year’s Good Housekeeping Magazine Food Awards.

After being invited to deliver some bread samples to the prestigious Good Housekeeping Magazine judging panel, Duncan Glendinning, founder of The Thoughtful Bread Company with its bread shop in Green Park Station at the heart of Bath’s City Centre was recently awarded the accolade of Food Hero at the awards.

Andrew Fleming, Assistant Editor/Head of the Good Housekeeping Institute, explained: “This year we have once again enlisted the help of Slow Food UK to draw up the shortlist for our small producer award categories. This movement started in Italy and endorses small-producer products with minimal environmental impact or high standard of animal welfare - at a price fair to both producers and consumers. It is clear that bread-making for Duncan Glendinning at the Thoughtful Bread Company is a labour of love. Each hand-rolled loaf is made with ethical ingredients that are seasonally and locally sourced or foraged.“

Alice Murray, from Slow Food UK, commented: “Slow Food UK are delighted that their ‘Food Hero’ award went to Duncan Glendinning at The Thoughtful Bread Company. The tireless energy and passion that goes into Duncan’s bread is reflected in each hand-rolled loaf bursting with local and seasonal ingredients. This eco-artisan bakery is a true labour of love”.

Duncan was unfortunately not able to attend the big night in London on the 25th of May as he was committed to his night’s baking: “I was bitterly disappointed not to be able to attend the awards night but I am absolutely delighted to be the recipient of this prestigious award and would like to dedicate it to the rest of the team at Thoughtful Bread, and my gorgeous wife, who have been such a big support throughout the infancy of the business.”

Andrew Holloway, head of logistics and health and safety at The Thougthful Bread Company was invited to attend the ceremony and was presented the award by BBC’s “Great British Menu” judge Prue Leith: “I really enjoyed to be amongst such good company at the awards and was honoured to collect the award on Duncan’s behalf”. The Good Housekeeping Magazine Food Award is one of several recent awards recognising the continuing efforts the small artisan bakery are making to root themselves firmly into Bath’s community. Their shop is open tuesdays through to saturdays in Green Park Station in Bath.

Find out more:

Good Housekeeping Magazine
Photos of the event

Hi, I’m Ross Davies and I am the new recruit for the Thoughtful Bread Company. Some of you may recognize me as I have been working next door for PJ’s Farm on a Friday and Saturday. I also had a life away from the market which was completely different to this, and I have now taken the BIG step to work for Duncan and his team as I feel I have a lot to offer, I have a true passion for food, love the drive for what Duncan wants to achieve, and I really want to be part of that. I can’t wait to get going now, it’s an exciting time for The Thoughtful Bread Company and I’m over the moon to be here, so please next time you pass the shop, please come and say ‘hello’ and buy some real,award-winning, handmade, good for you bread!!

Well, it has been a fruitfull summer. Deciding to enter our breads into the few competitions that present themselves come the summer months was not a decision we took lightly.
As a very young business, still, we wanted to make sure we only enter products we believe were truely award-winning and the thought of having our breads pitted against those made by long-established competiting bakeries had us feeling a mixture of excited and nervous in anticipation.


We are delighted to announce however that we have scooped a real horde of awards!!


From the Great Taste Awards run by the Guild of Fine Foods we scooped Gold for our Cheddar Gorge Vintage Cheese bread and our Irish Soda bread. You can read a full story about this and the great producers we work with to make these award-winning breads by clicking here.


At the Taste of the West awards, we decided to enter six of our breads and each of them won an award, with our Cheddar Gorge Vintage Bread scooping it’s second Gold, along with our funky Beetroot Bread, whilst the Potato & Rosemary and our Great White Sourdough Breads scooped Silver and the Rustic Onion and our tasty Wholemeal Multiseed took Bronze.


We also entered a couple of products in the Baking Industry Awards and whilst we didn’t win on this occasion we were delighted to reach the later stages of the competition which was encouraging given the might of the other bakeries we were competing against.

On a personal note I was very very proud of my team here at The Thoughtful Bread Company. Until now the awards and recognition we had received had been for the environmental commitment we make day-to-day and for the way we run the business, so to have The Thoughtful Bread Company placed firmly on the map of great Bakeries in Britain is something I am hugely proud of.



As always, we have to extend a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to you, our customers… as without you buying our bread there would be no bakery.



Gosh, this is starting to sound like one of those soppy awards speeches you see on telly, so I’ll call it a day for now!


Thank you.

P.S If you ever hear of any awards, bursaries or initiatives we should be entering into or applying for, please do contact me.

Find out more:

http://www.greattasteawards.co.uk/2010/results/results.asp?AwardYear=2010&SearchWord=thoughtful
http://www.tasteofthewest.co.uk/

The Thoughtful Bread Company, based out in Farrington Gurney at the popular Farrington’s Farm Shop, with their bread shop situated in Green Park Station in Bath have scooped two awards in this year’s Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards. The awards, completely independent and uncompromisingly rigorous, are trusted by retailers, buyers and consumers nationwide and are considered to be to speciality food and drink what MICHELIN is to fine dining.

The artisan bakery was awarded Gold for their Cheddar Gorge Vintage Cheese bread, and their Irish Soda bread. Duncan, Founder of The Thoughtful Bread Company commented: “We were thrilled to hear that we are now an award winning bakery! As a relatively young business we were anxious at entering the awards and pitting ourselves against the best bakeries in the industry, so were delighted by the results”.

Genuinely working to source ingredients of the highest quality, and as locally as possible is just one of the many lengths to which The Thoughtful Bread Company go to produce products of real quality.

John Spencer, Director of The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company based in Cheddar who supply the bakery with the cheese for the award winning Cheddar Gorge Vintage bread had this to say: “Working with The Thoughtful Bread Company is a pleasure. Not only do they have the skill to take first class ingredients and produce a gold class bread, but they also care passionately about the authenticity and quality of their supplies. Couple this with the incredible level of enthusiasm Duncan brings to the whole operation and they have the recipe for long term business success. ” The bakery also sources it’s Rapeseed Oil from Fussels who grow and press their oil just a few miles away in Rode. Gary Holloway, commercial Director from Fussels said: “The guys at The Thoughtful Bread Company genuinely care about sourcing locally. We have supplied them from day one and we are proud to be associated with such outstanding products”.

There would of course be no bread without the premium organic flour supplied by Shipton Mill. Alan National Sales Manager for Shipton Mill commented: “We are proud to have been working with The Thoughtful Bread Company from their early beginnings supplying them with the organic flour which has contributed to their success through these awards. Winning Gold for their breads is testimony to the hard work and passion they have for what they are doing, producing Real Bread, of real quality and pedigree”.
Patrick Ryan, Head Baker at Thoughtful Bread says: “Having my recipes recognised at a national level after all the long hours and the effort we have all put in is a huge honour and as a proud Irishman seeing our Irish Soda Bread take gold makes me very proud”.

It is simply by not making bog standard bread that has enabled The Thoughtful Bread Company to set up the Bakery as the country was entering a recession. Duncan said “There are plenty of bakeries producing fairly unimaginative breads so we have created our niche by doing something a little different. Our specialist range of breads that include herbs we grow ourselves and ingredients foraged from the wild larder means that we have enjoyed working with the best restaurants and food outlets in the area. For businesses and foodies who want something a little refreshing and different, come find us in Green Park Station”.

The bread shop is open in Green Park Station, Tuesdays through to Fridays, from 9am until 6pm. They are also open Saturday mornings when the Bath Farmers’ Market is in full swing but you are advised to visit mid week or early on a Saturday not to be disappointed!
Find out more:

See the Great Taste Awards page here

It’s not often you get a call asking whether we could make up some muffin-like brioches to be used as a prop in a theatrical production so we jumped at the opportunity!

Our delicious Brioche were recently featured in Noel Coward’s play “Private Lives” which was shown in Bath’s Theatre Royal before the tour moved on to pastures new… With a star cast including “Sex and the City’s” Kim Cattrall the play has had very good reviews and at the time of posting this is still touring!

Find out more:

Private Lives the play

The Thoughtful Bread Company was rewarded this week for it’s continuing commitment to reducing it’s impact on the environment in it’s day to day activities when it was awarded national recognition in the Greenest Trader category of the national “How Green Is Your Market” competition.

The competition launched by the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) was devised to encourage markets and traders to become more environmentally friendly. NMTF Chief Executive Officer Joe Harrison had this to say: “Duncan’s entry into the Greenest Trader Competition 2009 was very thorough and clearly explained his efforts to ensure that his company is socially responsible and environmentally friendly. From sourcing ingredients locally to using recycled packaging, Duncan is very passionate about bread and his business. He is a true inspiration proving that it is possible to run an environmentally accountable business, whilst providing good quality reasonably priced produce.”

Janine Woodward, Regional Manager of Ethical Property who manage the Green Park Station, said “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to support The Thoughtful Bread Company at the Station and Duncan really deserves this award. Small, local businesses such as the Thoughtful Bread Co. are really important in helping us create a more sustainable economy. Green Park Market is fast becoming the destination in Bath for all things local!”

Dick and James Strawbridge from the hit BBC 2 TV series “It’s not easy being green” were keen to support The Thoughtful Bread Company in it’s early start-up stages and visited the shop in Green Park Station to hand Duncan the award: “We simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shake his hand and congratulate him for all his efforts in not only setting up a business in a time of severe economic downturn, but one that is also so forward-thinking and caring for the environment in everything that they do”.

We are always on the hunt for new ideas to further reduce our environmental impact, so if you have any ideas or suggestions, no matter how small (or how silly they may sound) please get in touch with us, we would love to hear from you!

Find out more:

National Market Traders Federation (NMTF)
More on Dick and James Strawbridge at New House Farm

The last couple of months have been incredible… some of you may recall our asking that you support us by nominating us for the Bath Life Awards. To our surprise we made the shortlist in the New Business of the Year category.

Having to run the shop and with an early start that night for the following day I hadn’t intended on going until a call from the lovely guys at the Bath Life office suggested that we take the trouble to come. I doned my army gear (WW2 themed evening) and my lovely fiancee and I attended the glamourous evening.

To our surprise when the winners were announced we were among them and I was invited to go on stage to pick up the award!!!! In case you weren’t some of the few who attended I did take the time to thank all of those who have supported us in the last 6 months…that means YOU!!! From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, we wouldn’t still be here without your regular visits to our querky bread shop.

Other awards in the last few weeks have included the Federation for Small Business’ Best Environmental and Ethical Award which we scooped at a fantastic event at the Guildhall, with thanks of course to Angela Ladd the hingepin of the event and someone who has opened so many doors for us. We were delighted to snap up an award that recognised the lengths to which we go on a day-to-day basis to minimise the impact the business has on the environment.