Bakeries in Grantham

The baking story of Grantham

Grantham's gingerbread looks nothing like the dark, sticky kind. It is a pale, crisp, domed biscuit with a hollow centre, said to have been created by accident in the 18th century when a local baker making hard travelling biscuits called whetstones added the wrong ingredient. The result became a favourite with travellers on the Great North Road, which ran straight through the town. Grantham was a coaching town, and its inns fed passengers travelling between London and York. It is also where the young Isaac Newton went to school, and where a future prime minister grew up above her father's grocery shop. Lincolnshire's broad wheatfields and windmills surround the town on every side.

Local bakes to look out for

• Grantham gingerbread – A pale, crisp, hollow-centred ginger biscuit.
• Lincolnshire plum bread – A rich, spiced fruit loaf, sliced and buttered.

Bakery hunter's tip: Grantham gingerbread keeps well, so buy a bag for the road — just as coach passengers on the Great North Road once did.

Did you know? Grantham gingerbread is credited to baker William Egglestone, who is said to have created it by mistake in 1740.