OUR STORY
BOULANGER ARTISAN BAKERY
Phoebe Boulanger
I’ve made bread in one form or another for most of my life. I was raised on a small, off-grid hill farm in Mid-Wales where we grew a lot of our own food and baked bread. Organic whole food was simply part of life. I learned bread making at a very young age and have carried that on wherever I have lived.
Whilst working at Andy’s Bread in Llanidloes, which I did for two years, I began to dream of setting up my own bakery. I've moved around a lot during my adult life and, amongst other things, I’ve worked as a bookseller, as a market gardener and gained a degree in Nutrition as a mature student. Working for myself as a baker, running my own business finally seemed to make sense. Skills that I’d acquired during my working life seemed to come together to make this plan workable. As I made plans I was offered the perfect premises in Presteigne – a workshop and home on a live/work development.
So here I am. The bakery started trading in September 2021 and I’m looking forward to making my home and livelihood here, near family and friends, and baking Real Bread for the local community for years to come. Phoebe
The Bakery
The bakery is a passive solar building (David Colwell Design) on Broadaxe Business Park in Presteigne. We use the residual heat from the ovens and the building itself to heat our hot water via an exhaust air heat pump. We buy our electricity from a company sourcing 100% renewable energy.
November 2024
Three years on and the bakery is thriving, supplying bread and pastries locally and supporting the equivalent of one part-time and two full-time jobs, shared between four people.
I’ve had indispensible support and guidance from family and friends, and extra help from a few casual paid workers (usually friends) throughout the 3 years. After two and half years it became clear that I needed a more sustainable work-life balance having dedicated myself purely to establishing and growing the business. So I advertised for some people to work here formally.
Leila has been here almost right from the start doing odd bits here and there to begin with but now has regular weekly hours. She does a delivery round, some cleaning and prep work – a dependable pair of hands.
Dylan, who is Presteigne born and bred, started in April this year. Recruited through Jobs Growth Wales he has grown into his role here and is a brilliant everyday right -hand man. Working on the market stall twice a month has been to be a great confidence boost for him.
Peri joined the team in June 2024 and, as a fully trained baker with 8 years’ experience, has been an invaluable addition. With him taking on two early mornings a week my workload is a lot lighter.
The bakery now sells to 5 independent shops and a handful of cafes and restaurants (see Stockists). I take bread and pastries to the monthly Producers’ Markets in Presteigne and Leominster where we have a growing number of regular customers. Since the start we’ve been regular attendees at the very popular Summer and Winter Food Festivals in Kington. There are one-off events to which we supply as well as a good number of households who buy larger amounts.
During the Presteigne Open Studios weekend (the last weekend of August) we held a pop-up café which was great fun to do and helped to top up the coffers a bit. It raised the profile of the bakery and rounded off the annual event held here at Artisan Row (the live/work development where the bakery is situated).
With a solid customer base and a good team behind me I am getting a much better work-life balance, settling into my role and feeling a growing sense of community around me. Phoebe
