We are pleased to announce that we have just taken delivery of our latest parcel of milling wheat, from the 2022 harvest. As a result, for the home millers, wheat grain is now once again available to purchase along with our range of rye and spelt grains.

Our 2022 harvest wheat, Paragon variety, comes from the Hampshire – Wiltshire border area and we will be writing a blog post shortly to tell you more about the farm where it was grown.

The grain will be going into production to produce our white and wholemeal flours over the next couple of weeks as we mill the last of our 2021 harvest mulika wheat. We will, I am afraid, have to adjust our prices as the 2022 harvest wheat was over 65% more expensive per tonne than our 2021 wheat! Whilst you will not see that total percentage reflected in what you pay, you will, I hope, appreciate why an increase has been necessary. The good news is that wheat prices are now showing signs of falling, so we look forward to reducing prices (assuming the price of wheat continues to fall) at the end of 2023 when we have milled up this latest batch of grain.

We’ve shared some pictures before of the 2022 harvest wheat “in action”, but here is a reminder of what you expect from the 13.5% protein flour!

2023 is a year of celebration for our windmills here in Swaffham Prior and National Mills Weekend which takes place on the 13th & 14th May marks the start of those celebrations!

Both mills will be open on Sunday 14th May from 2pm to 5pm. Tour the new sails ready to be lifted into place at the Smock Mill, explore Fosters Mill with a guided tour and, wind permitting, see flour being produced. Refreshments available at Fosters Mill!

Swaffham Prior to become the only place in the UK where you can see two windmills working together in close proximity

Swaffham Prior has had two mills since the mid 19th Century, but not since 1927 have both mills been able to work together. In June 2023, we will once again be able to witness this magnificent site and become the only place in the UK where two mills are able to work (sails turning and pointing into wind) in such close proximity!

At the end of May, James Forsyth and his team will be installing the windmills sails at the Smock Tower Mill. Since 1927 when the Smock Tower was severely damaged in a storm, no sails have turned on the Smock Mill – by June 2023, they will be turning once again along with Fosters Mill. We have been enjoying the sight of both mills facing into the wind for some months since the cap was installed and commissioned on the Smock Tower, now James is ready for the next stage in the re-birth of the Smock Mill!

25 Years of the Priors Flour

Fosters Mill reaches an important milestone in 2023, celebrating 25 years of the Priors Flour, the brand which carries the Swaffham Prior name across the whole of the UK at least in terms of flour! As a reader of our updates, you will be aware that the business continues to enjoy great success working with shops, bakeries, restaurants, direct customers and a click & collect / mail order business which sees flour go across the UK and into Europe.

We hope we will welcome you to the mill in our anniversary year and look forward to seeing you soon! We also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and business and look forward to continuing to supply you with great flour! Happy Baking!!

Happy Easter from all at the Priors Flour! We email today to share a copy of the recent film created by Justin Ingham for Alan Titchmarsh’s programme “Love your Weekend”. We are very grateful to Love Your Weekend and Penny Lane Entertainment for allowing us to share the film on our website.

Please note that the mill is closed on Sunday 9th April 2023 to allow the team to enjoy their Easter Break!

You might be interested to know that Fosters Mill is due to appear on Alan Titchmarsh’s Love your Weekend programme on ITV on the 26th February 2023 from 9.30am! The crew joined us last week for a days’ filming and we are advised that the piece they created should be shown on the 26th February. We look forward to seeing it too!

We’ve been rather quiet over the last few months in terms of blog post updates, but behind the scenes, Priors Flour HQ has been a hive of activity.

New Shop & Packing Space

To enable us to have a larger shop area and to provide a better service, including a more efficient flour bagging, packing and dispatch set of processes, we have converted an existing building to create our new shop and packing space! The work was completed at the end of December 2022, but the last few weeks have allowed us to add some of the finishing touches, so we’re proud to present:

Traditional flour milling has to balance age-old tradition and historic machinery / buildings with modern food production requirements, so whilst our production processes remain the same, we’ve been able to improve the packing & flour dispatch facilities we have:

New Parcel of Milling Wheat 2023

Each year we rigorously test samples of wheat to find the best available milling wheat for you! The 2022 harvest was… trying! At last however, we have found a parcel of wheat from Devon which meets our exacting standards. The flour will be in production from April / May onwards when we will publicise the farm where it was grown. Here are some pictures of white sourdough battards made with the flour here at Priors’ Flour HQ: