Doorstep sandwiches

Long before our bespoke mill arrived at Burneside in Cumbria, our journey to producing flour for our bakery, Lovingly Artisan, began with a conversation at a local farmers’ market. It was a conversation driven by our concerns to the fragile and insecure food climate we’re facing as bakers and food producers, and our response to it.

The negative impact of climate change is more apparent than ever. Combined with the ongoing war on Ukraine, changing temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns have had detrimental effects upon the supply (and prices) of grain and other food. This is an issue we cannot ignore and so we began conversations with farmers to tackle it at a local scale.

We were very fortunate with our timing; Ben and Jannike Taylor, who own Eden Farm near Penrith, recently took on an extra 530 acres. They are highly-skilled arable farmers with a long legacy of harvesting. The extra land has allowed them to diversify their crops and to grow grain specifically for us. This includes rye, emmer, einkorn and spelt, alongside modern wheat.

A growing relationship

Through this partnership, we have gained a deep-rooted knowledge and thoughtful insight into what is most important to them as grain growers and farmers. The realities of growing grain when we insisted that they do so with no agrochemicals: no synthetic fertiliser, herbicides, pesticides or growth inhibitors. This was our only stipulation, as we want the arrangement to be fair for both families and want to pay an honest price for the time and incredible skill involved in growing, cleaning and storing the grain.

This isn’t about a ‘Trump deal of the century’, it is about food security, quality produce and relocalisation. The ability to grow, harvest and then mill grain all in Cumbria is incredible. The journey from farm to mill to bakery is just 32 miles! This short distance is echoed by the close relationship and understanding between two family businesses, one we are sure will develop quickly as we expand the varieties of crops grown.

The Taylors’ first test crop for us was rye. This is a staple ingredient that features in many of our loaves for many reasons, not least because it contributes incredible flavours. Rye also has several benefits from a farmer’s perspective: it is a resilient crop that can tolerate adverse conditions better than other cereals, therefore reducing the need for chemical inputs, and contributes to soil’s health and biodiversity.

Milling about

Our steepest learning curve has been the craft of milling. Our QuartzMill 1200, with sickle-dressed composite stones, customised by Fintan Keenan and team at Quartz Mølle in Denmark, arrived in December 2024. We milled our first grain in early 2025, since when we have produced over 20 tonnes of flour, with enough rye to last us until this summer’s harvest. Niall Monks, our son, has been tutored and mentored by Gilchesters co-founder Dr. Andrew Wilkinson to become our miller. Every aspect of milling is technical, the devil is in the detail. This suits Niall, who came from a technical background working in sound and lighting, a high-pressured, multifaceted environment. His key transferable skills have been essential for the art of milling, gaining a real sense of the mill’s sounds, stones, flours, and how everything feels.

We have always had a close relationship with our millers but in the first seven months of our new venture we learnt so much more. It is a significant step for our business, to help shape and secure its future. We invested in a bespoke mill to produce flour that is suited to our baking style, with capacity to continue developing and growing our ambitious bakery. From now, it will be the grain that dictates how we refine our progress, our style and our approach to artisan baking.

@lovinglyartisan @burneside_mill

Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 63, July 2025.

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