Little Valley Bakery

The bakehouse for every Little Valley loaf

Every loaf Little Valley sells is baked at Parkmill, which makes this the bakehouse rather than another shopfront. It opened in July 2016, two years after the founders started out with Swansea Bread Weekly, a subscription bread delivery, and after time spent travelling in France among artisan bakeries. That influence still holds: slow fermentation, organic flour, early starts, and a counter built around loaves instead of a menu. The site sits in a cobbled courtyard at the Old Hay Barn on the Gower Heritage Centre, where the morning arrives with sunlight, birdsong and the smell of bread. Brynmill and Mumbles came later, and Parkmill supplies them along with wholesale customers across Gower, Swansea and south Wales.

A counter with the bakery behind it

What Parkmill offers is a bakery counter with production going on behind it. The loaves are slow-fermented from organic flour by traditional methods, baked from scratch on the premises without artificial additives, and the business is a Real Bread Campaign member, which is a commitment rather than a description. Sourdough, rye sourdough, spelt, bloomer and brioche make up the standing range. Production across the group is split, with pastries and patisserie handled at Brynmill, so Parkmill's identity stays tied to bread even though the counter carries the sweeter half of the range too. The croissants take three days from mixing through lamination and shaping, which tells you the pastry side runs on the same patience.

Sourdough first, then a bun or a pasty

Start with the sourdough. It is the loaf most closely tied to what Little Valley is, described by the bakers themselves as really slow-processed bread, and it is made with organic flour and organic salt. Rye sourdough, spelt, bloomer and brioche widen the choice without changing the argument. Then decide what kind of stop this is. On the sweet side there are croissants, pain au chocolat, Danish, cinnamon buns, brownies, cakes and Welsh cakes. On the savoury side, sausage rolls, leek and potato pasties and focaccia sandwiches, the last of which the bakery is particularly proud of. It works equally as provisions before a Gower walk or as a straight bread run: a loaf first, then a laminated pastry, a bun or a savoury bake.