Grasmere village’s original 17th century school - now The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop - has provided sweet inspiration for a new confectionery to bring in the New Year.
‘Sarah Nelson’s Old School Toffee’ is our bakery and visitor attraction’s latest collaboration with fellow county food producer Country Flavour.
“This lovely artisan family business from Kirkby Stephen already makes all our wonderful fudges,” explained Joanne Hunter, co-director of Grasmere Gingerbread®.
“So we were thrilled when they offered to make our new toffee which we absolutely love,” said Joanne Hunter, co-director of Grasmere Gingerbread®.
“But after fruitlessly racking our brains for a suitable name, it was only when my husband Andrew declared that it tasted just like ‘old school toffee’ that I knew we had the perfect description.”
A hard and longer-lasting buttery confectionery that slowly melts in the mouth, ‘Sarah Nelson’s Old School Toffee’ is now sold at the original Grasmere Gingerbread Shop and its second shop in Hawkshead and also via the business’s online shop.
“As we explain on the box, the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop was originally the village’s first school built in 1630 by public subscription,” said Joanne.
Joanne asked Grasmere villager Richard Hardisty - the great great grandson of the school’s last headmaster James Airey - to help launch the new toffee just as children return to school for the longest term of the year.
Mr Hardisty described his ancestor as a “very modest” man who “gave so much to the village”.
Joanne Hunter gifting Richard Haridisty a box of the new ‘Old School Tofee’ outside The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop.
James Airey’s grave stands tall and proud looking upon the old school (The Gingerbread Shop).
Mr Hardisty’s great great grandfather’s former school was where William Wordsworth occasionally taught before it was converted into a dwelling called Church Cottage for a ‘poor and needy family’ in 1854.
“This was the year Sarah Nelson moved in with her husband and two daughters and invented Grasmere Gingerbread® which she sold from a tree stump outside her front door.”
Later - perhaps encouraged by her home’s former status - Sarah created giant Grasmere Gingerbread® letters which she used to teach local children the alphabet.
“We have continued the educational provenance of the building by creating a dedicated teaching resource on our website at www.grasmeregingerbread.co.uk/education,” said Joanne.
