May 13, 2022 12.01 pm This story is over 22 months old

Could village bakery be UK’s smallest? Owner wants to give Lincoln ‘real, organic bread’

Plans for a bakery measuring just 3m x 3m

Photo: Adobe Stock

The owner of a proposed artisan micro-bakery in Washingborough has told councillors “I just want to bake, sell my bread to my local community, and finish my working life doing something I absolutely love”.

Catherine Gilbert has applied to North Kesteven District Council for part-retrospective planning permission for a conversion of her 3m x 3m Main Road garden studio so she can start her Little Clowder Bakehouse business delivering bread to her local community.

Documents submitted to the authority said the bakery will operate on a part-time basis, “strictly limited to during the day” for four days a week.

Orders will be placed by customers via telephone or by a new website and will be baked by the applicant alone.

There will also be an option where customers could take out weekly or monthly subscriptions to the product in order to keep waste to a minimum.

In a statement to the council, Catherine said: “I want to serve my local community with real bread made from organic flour.

“Many years ago, every village would have had its own bakery; I want to put my little enterprise at the heart of my community.”

“I am 60 this year; I have no intention of expanding Little Clowder Bakehouse or employing staff; I just want to bake, sell my bread to my local community, and finish my working life doing something I absolutely love.”

Designs for the outhouse supplied to North Kesteven District Council.

She said the only bulk item she would order would be flour – with around three 16kg bags of flour ordered every couple of weeks and business deliveries kept to a minimum.

The applicant’s agent Studio Charrette said the proposal’s design and scale was in line with existing properties and would not result in detrimental impact to residential amenity.

The council will examine the plans and make a decision at a future date.