THE BEST thing since sliced bread could be a homemade loaf, and the move to real food, grown locally and bought locally, is spelling business success for Wessex Mill in Wantage.

The smallest flour mill left in Britain to still commercially roller-mill wheat, it is run by Bill and Paul Munsey, whose family have been milling for four generations.

Sales to traditional bakers fell as supermarket loaves took over, but now its local bread flour has become a big hit in farmers’ markets throughout Oxfordshire.

Founded by Bill’s grandfather William Henry Munsey at Osney in 1898 (in partnership with Archer Cowley, who soon left to go into furniture removals) the business closed for two years when Osney Mill burned down in 1945, then moved to Clark’s Mill, in Wantage, where it has been based ever since.

Originally it produced biscuit flour for companies such as Huntley & Palmer’s, Cadbury’s and Mars. However, as Paul Munsey explained, this became less profitable towards the end of the last century.

He said: “We weren’t making any money from it, and our customers wanted it in larger quantities than we could produce.”

So the Munseys and their 35-strong workforce gradually built up a network of Oxfordshire growers who could supply bread-making wheat, and now each flour bag is labelled with the name of the farmer, many from the Downs, near Wantage.

Paul added: “We deliver from Wales to London and Birmingham. There are about 500 bakeries in the area, and we deal with 150. There are some new ‘real bread’ bakeries but, overall, it’s a declining market.”

He added: “There are two sides to the business – we supply bakers and we supply flour direct to the public.

“It’s the sales to the public that are growing, by 25 per cent each year. It’s only 10 per cent of the business now, but we hope that will eventually become the main part.”

The popularity of ‘real food’ has meant new customers have joined traditional ones, such as Nash’s in Oxford and Chipping Norton, the Cornfield Bakery in Wheatley and Hawkins in Carterton.

One new arrival is the Natural Bread Company, just down the road at Manor Farm, Wantage, which has shops in Woodstock and Eynsham, sells at farmers’ markets and offers bread-making courses.

At home, Paul’s favourite loaf is made from Wessex Mill’s six-seed flour (a three star winner in the 2010 Great Taste Awards), using a sourdough starter which the mill shop sells in aid of a Ugandan charity.

And he is delighted at the boom in farm shops, markets, specialist food shops and independent food stores, with his flour now available in 500 different outlets worldwide, from Oxford to Little Milton, Dubai and Hong Kong to Hungary and St Helena.

“Farm shops are becoming the new high street. People want quality flour and ours is a quality product,” he said.

For more information about the mill, see wessexmill.co.uk