Almond Thief Bakery in Dartington: Sourdough Worth the Drive

For nearly a decade the Almond Thief was one of the genuinely outstanding small bakeries in Devon, the kind of place serious sourdough hunters would drive an hour to reach. Based at the Cider Press Centre on the Dartington estate, with later outposts in Totnes and Plymouth, the bakery built its reputation on long-fermented loaves, properly laminated pastries and an almond croissant that turned a generation of Devon locals into evangelists. The Almond Thief ceased trading in February 2025, which makes this a portrait of what it was rather than a recommendation for tomorrow morning, though much of its philosophy lives on in the bakery that has stepped into its place.

What made it special

Most artisan bakeries in the UK use imported organic flours from specialist mills. The Almond Thief went a step further. Founder Federico Pisanelli set up Dartington Mill in 2020, working with a small group of farmers within a few miles of the bakery to grow heritage and population wheats that he then milled himself. The result was bread with a genuine sense of place. Loaves tasted of the south Devon climate as much as of the long fermentation behind them.

The signature loaf was a country white made with stone-ground flour, an open crumb and a properly blistered crust. Alongside it were dense rye breads, walnut loaves, focaccia studded with rosemary and sea salt, and on Saturdays a queue forming long before opening for the weekend bakes.

The pastry case

The pastries are what most casual visitors remember. The almond croissant gave the bakery its name and lived up to it: a twice-baked croissant brushed with rum syrup, filled with frangipane and topped with flaked almonds, sticky on the fingers and impossible to eat tidily. There were classic croissants, pain au chocolat, fruit Danish pastries that changed with the season, sourdough doughnuts at weekends and slabs of olive oil cake by the slice. Coffee was carefully sourced, served in proper ceramics, and the cafe at the Dartington site had a small terrace looking out over the courtyard.

Why it closed

The directors entered liquidation in February 2025 after multiple attempts to sell the business through 2024 failed to find a buyer. Reports at the time pointed to rising flour and energy costs, a difficult retail environment for small bakeries and accumulated debts. The Dartington and Totnes sites closed first, with Plymouth following soon after. Nineteen people lost their jobs, and a real piece of the Totnes food scene went with it.

What replaced it

The Dartington bakery space did not stay quiet for long. In April 2025, The Daily Knead opened at the same site, run by China Blue (the long-standing pottery and ceramics studio at the Cider Press Centre). The new bakery picked up the bread and pastry baton in determined fashion, with handcrafted sourdough, buttery pastries and a quest, in their own words, for the perfect almond croissant. Different team, different name, but the bread shelves are full again.

The legacy

The Almond Thief mattered for two reasons beyond the bread itself. First, it showed that British heritage grains could be grown, milled and baked at scale on a single small estate. Several other small mills around the country have since taken inspiration from the Dartington Mill model. Second, it pulled a real foodie crowd up the A385 to Dartington at weekends, supporting the rest of the Cider Press Centre tenants and helping cement Dartington’s reputation as one of the South West’s most interesting food clusters.

If you visit Dartington today

The Daily Knead sits in the old space and is well worth a visit for sourdough, pastries and coffee, open most days from breakfast through to mid-afternoon. Price bracket: £. There is generous free parking across the Cider Press Centre car parks, and you can combine the visit with a wander around the Dartington Hall gardens, the Riverford Field Kitchen up the road, or a riverside walk along the Dart.

Who it suited

Sourdough enthusiasts, weekend food drivers, anyone interested in heritage grains and the new wave of UK micro-milling. The Almond Thief was the kind of bakery that drew people out of their normal patterns. It is missed, and remembered fondly, and the bread keeps coming under a new sign.

Where to find good sourdough now

For visitors arriving in Dartington and Totnes today, several options pick up the slack. The Daily Knead at the Cider Press Centre is the direct successor on the same site, and the early reviews suggest the new team is taking the bread seriously. In central Totnes, Sacks Wholefoods has long stocked a range of local sourdoughs, while Ben’s Wholefoods on the High Street carries loaves from several small Devon bakeries. Riverford’s farm shop near Buckfastleigh stocks bread alongside its vegetable boxes. Saturday Good Food Markets in Totnes Civic Square also bring rotating bakery stalls into town.

The wider Cider Press Centre

It is worth knowing what else sits at the same site as the old Almond Thief. The Cider Press Centre is a courtyard of independent businesses on the Dartington estate: ceramic studios, a kitchenware shop, the Cranks Restaurant (one of the original UK vegetarian restaurants), a toy shop, a wholefoods grocery and a few makers and artists. Parking is free, opening hours run roughly 9am to 5pm most days, and the courtyard is one of the more pleasant places to spend an hour out of the rain.