Four hundred years ago this September, the Pilgrim Fathers stepped aboard the Mayflower to sail for a new life in the New World. Last week, one remarkable American, Tamara Smith, made the journey back, all the way from Washington State to Sparkwell, Devon, UK.
especially on the Chemin de Saint Jacques / Camino de Santiago.
Tamara came to do our 5-day Intensive Artisan Baker Course, with a view to expanding on her sourdough bread-making. She arrived in the middle of two storms (Ciara and Dennis), had her train cancelled at Taunton, and only reached us thanks to the kindness of a fellow passenger, a German physicist whom we have christened ‘Thomas the Angel’. (Hope you’re reading this, Tom!)
Our days were very full, with fellow students Mark, Sarah, and their 11-year old daughter Molly (top baker!) and David G. learning Artisan Bread for Beginners on Monday, and John M. joining us for Artisan Sourdough & Rye on Tuesday.
However, on Monday afternoon, I managed to take Tamara down to the Mayflower Steps in town, where the solid wall of drizzle reminded her of growing up in Seattle, and where the extracts from the journals of those aboard the Mayflower gave both of us a lump in our throats. If you know the sea, you know the courage it must have taken to make that voyage.
The vindication was, in a way, in the fact of us standing there together, two bakers from opposite sides of the Atlantic, united in their desire to bake truly great, healthy, wholesome and beautiful bread!
Jacka Baker, also on the Barbican, dates back to the early 1600s, and supplied ships biscuits for the Mayflower voyage. We did come to see you, too, guys, just a few minutes too late for Tamara to see the amazing breads you bake. Next time!
Our evenings were spent eating and drinking wine and telling stories around the fire, and what a lot we all had to tell. There’s not room to share it all with you here, but look out for Tamara’s name in the future; she’s a talented writer (and farmer/baker/property manager/home-schooler/stone chimney builder/winter postwoman/philospher/wit) with a lot to say. We barely stopped laughing for a moment. We made a bushel of pastries on the Viennoiserie Class, and some exceptional sourdough on the Heritage Grains day, but the most fun of all was the Wood Fired Pizza course on the very last day. Delicious pizza (as always), a few beers for thirsty bakers, and a great deal of hilarity.
Then Tamara, who had only come for the week, had to leave us, but not without her own Pilgrim loaf, and her sourdough starter culture (“Sparkwell”)!
The early settlers, I think, were homesick, and named their new settlements after their home towns: New York, New England, New Jersey. There are apparently around 650 English town names in the States, and sometimes they didn’t even bother with the ‘new’. If you’re local to us, you probably know there’s a Plymouth in Massachusetts. And now, we who bake in Sparkwell, Devon are proud to say that The Sparkwell Oven is soon to be built by Tamara’s husband, Trent, and opening in Washington, USA. Thus, the circle closes, a circle of transatlantic friendship and baking. To Tamara and Trent and their amazing Family, we wish you Godspeed in your venture, and every success!
Opening soon in Washington, USA:
The Sparkwell Oven!
