Thank you for visiting the the website of the Boatyard Bakery

IMPORTANT: Because of the COVID 19 outbreak our Cafe is closed. The Bakery remains open from

8:30am to 2pm Monday to Saturday

(Sorry we're closed Sundays).

We are taking important steps to protect the safety of our bakers and customers and ask you to observe the social distancing recommendations.

Order your daily essentials for delivery or collection
Choose from our freshly baked bread, milk, eggs and more for delivery to your front door by our very own Boatyard bicycle - Matilda!

Order Now

When to order for collection & delivery...

• MONDAY delivery/collection - Order before midday Saturday. Open Easter Monday
• TUESDAY closed - Order before midday Monday
• WEDNESDAY collection only 
• THURSDAY delivery/collection - Order before midday Tuesday
• FRIDAY collection only - Order before midday Wednesday
• SATURDAY delivery/collection - Order before midday Thursday
• SUNDAY closed

Collections between 9am and 2pm. Deliveries between 10am-12 midday.

Please note, the Boatyard Bakery is closed to customers on Tuesdays and Sundays until further notice

Our bakers pride themselves on making ‘real’ bread using traditional methods with simple ingredients: flour, water, sea salt and our own nurtured sourdough cultures or a little fresh yeast, and most important of all - time.

Though we have industrial mixers, every loaf is scaled and shaped by hand – it takes time but it’s worth it! Baking is an ancient skill dating back centuries, crossing many cultures and civilisations but in recent years the popularity of sourdough has undergone a dramatic revival – for good reason!

Long fermentation creates fantastic flavours and really improves the keeping quality without the need for additives. Many people find sourdoughs and other slow-rise bread easier to digest than industrial loaves. Sourdough bacteria break down the proteins in gluten that some people react to, making them more digestible.  You can read more about the benefits of sourdough here.   But really we just recommend eating it because it’s delicious!

Here's an interesting long read from the Guardian Newspaper, about some other bakers and grain producers, who like us, are trying to provide a more sustainable, healthier loaf.

Alongside our range of bread we make delicious cakes, scones, brioche burger buns, and pastries. Some of these are served daily in our cafe but we also supply other stockists and food outlets in Exeter! Please get in touch if you would like to enquire about our wholesale options.

Our Daily Bread

We have a reduced range of bakery items while the COVID 19 restrictions are in place - but you can now order online in our new online shop for delivery within 2 miles or for collection from the bakery during opening hours.

Order Online

Unfortunately due to COVID 19 restrictions we are unable to provide our normal cafe service - we are able to offer takeaway teas and coffees while the bakery is open

If you are interested in a career in baking or just part time work in our café then please come in for an informal chat and keep an eye out for future opportunities. We usually advertise in the café or on the Real Bread Campaign website.

Without your support small independent businesses like ours would simply vanish. Exeter, typically, was home to many small family-run enterprises in years gone by and we have all struggled to set up and keep going in the face of competition from major players. However, it’s not all bad news and the Boatyard Bakery & Cafe is just one example of lots of newish shops and cafes in this lovely city that flourish because people like places of character and something different. https://www.visitexeter.com

Our wholesale bread is delivered by Escargo, an electrically powered tricycle, fondly christened Matilda, which scoops up all the freshly baked bread in the morning and delivers it safely around the city centre. Clean and green. A fine example of a sustainable delivery system set up by Jenny Ryding with the help of Exeter Futures.

We get as much fresh produce as we can from Shillingford Organics, a fully certified organic farm just three miles away, supplying a wide range of really delicious seasonal vegetables and herbs. We also stock Little Bowhay jams and chutneys made in Shillingford Abbot, for you to take home and eat with our bread.

Crispin’s Apple juice is made and pasteurised on a farm at Broadclyst and we sell bottles of the stuff.

We do it because we love making real bread and believe that consumers should have a choice in this city of buying boring or real bread!

We do it because we want to employ people and train them to have skills and a career in something unique.

We do it because we love getting up early! (Really?)

We do it because people walk into the bakery and smile when they smell freshly baked loaves.

We do it because we like all the different sorts of dogs that people have as pets

We do it because we love our building and having the room to let kids play

Unfortunately we are unable to organise events at present due to the COVID 19 restrictions.