OUR STORY
Blake’s is a third generation, family run bakery-café, food store & Post Office on the edge of the Cotswolds. We make a selection of cakes and savouries, sandwiches and hot food to order; and we are proud to bake our own bread from scratch every day. In 2020, we opened our second Blake’s Kitchen at Soho Farmhouse near Chipping Norton with our Third Blake’s Kitchen Coleshill which is located in the beautiful Buscot and Coleshill National Trust Estate.
Every day we mix, shape and bake a variety of Real Bread; including slowly fermented sourdough, brioche, ciabatta and focaccia. Our Malt Crunch Sourdough won ‘Best Multigrain Loaf’ at the World Bread Awards 2019. Other products which have gained our bakery a reputation are our Nutella doughnuts, our own family recipe for Lardy Cake, and our cinnamon buns, which won a silver award at the World Bread Awards.
Everything in our bakery is handmade by us, from scratch. We add no preservatives or artificial flour improvers.
We make everything in our café kitchen using only the best quality, natural ingredients; from the bread for your sandwich, to the falafel and hummus inside it. We serve freshly made salads and daily changing hot specials. We also take orders for whole cakes. Most recently we have launched a cookery school, to allow us to share our passion for Real Bread and homemade food with the wider community.
Our History
Clanfield Post Office and shop was established by Nic’s grandparents Bob and Martha Blake, in 1963. When Martha retired in 1985, Nic’s Mum Janet took over the business and she’s still serving customers to this day. In November 2014, Nic moved back to the village, and left her job as a University Lecturer and Dietitian to take on the challenge of running the business. As a child, Nic (quite literally) grew up in the shop and could often be found weighing out pounds of potatoes or helping her granddad bake bread and cakes.
In 2018, Nic’s husband Dan left his job in London to work full-time in the business. Working alongside the amazing Blake’s team, they have transformed the old village shop into a bustling bakery-café that remains the hub of the village.