Our earlier guides covered where to eat, where to shop and which farm shops are worth the drive. This one goes back a step to the people who actually make the food, including a miller at Swaffham Prior who still waits for enough wind to turn the sails.
There are twelve producers here, split between Cambridge and the south, Huntingdonshire and the west, and Ely and the Fens. Some have a shop or café you can walk into, some sell only online or through stockists, and two are working mills with limited opening. We have said which is which for every entry. Breweries, distilleries and vineyards get their own guide, so they are left out here.
Details were accurate at the time of research in November 2026. Opening times, stock and ordering deadlines change, so please check each producer’s own website before you travel or order.
Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire
The south of the county is commuter country, but it still has makers working at a small scale. These three cover coffee, ice cream and chocolate, and two of them have moved out of the city centre to find room to work.
Hot Numbers Roastery, Shepreth
Indoor and outdoor
- Hot Numbers is a Cambridge speciality coffee roaster that roasts its beans at a roastery and café on Dunsbridge Turnpike in Shepreth, south west of Cambridge
- The business has been roasting for around 15 years and also runs cafés on Gwydir Street and Trumpington Street in Cambridge
- The Shepreth roastery café opens from 7am every day, closing at 5pm Sunday to Thursday and staying open until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays
- An open kitchen serves brunch, pizza, sourdough and cakes, and there is a garden to sit out in when the weather allows
- You can bring your own wine or beer to the roastery café, with a corkage charge
- Hot Numbers was named a finalist for Business of the Year (Medium) in the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2026
- Beans can be bought to take home from the cafés or ordered online through the Hot Numbers website
Address: Dunsbridge Turnpike, Shepreth SG8 6RB
Website: hotnumberscoffee.co.uk
How to book: No booking needed for the café; buy beans in person or online
The Shepreth roastery is the place to see where a Cambridge coffee habit actually starts. It sits close to the A10 south of Cambridge, which makes it an easy stop rather than a special trip if you live south of the city. The late opening at the end of the week turns it into somewhere for an evening pizza as well as a morning flat white. If you only know Hot Numbers from the Gwydir Street café, this is a roomier version with a garden attached. Pick up a bag of beans on the way out, roasted a few miles from where you bought them.
Jack’s Gelato, Cambridge
Indoor activity
- Jack’s Gelato makes its gelato and sorbets by hand at its shop on Bene’t Street in central Cambridge
- The shop opens 364 days a year, and current daily hours are listed on its website and its Instagram account
- Flavours change constantly, and a Varsity ranking in September 2026 covered 19 of them, among them brown butter, gingerbread, carrot cake and pink ube sorbet
- Dark chocolate and sea salt is one of the few flavours on the permanent menu
- The Girton apple sorbet uses fruit grown locally, and elderflowers picked for the shop have gone into the gelato
- The shop has stayed open through the night on the summer solstice
- Expect a queue on warm evenings and weekends, as the shop is small and sits in the busiest part of the city centre
Address: Bene’t Street, Cambridge
Website: jacksgelato.com
How to book: No booking; walk in
Jack’s is the producer on this list you are most likely to have already eaten from without thinking of it as one. Everything is made on the premises, and the flavour board reads like a seasonal diary of what has been picked, foraged or baked that week. It is a small shop on a narrow street just off King’s Parade, so treat it as a stop on a walk round the city rather than a sit-down destination. Come in winter as well as summer, as flavours such as gingerbread and sugar and spice suit a cold afternoon.
Chocolat Chocolat, Hatley St George
Indoor activity
- Chocolat Chocolat is a handmade chocolate business that used to have a shop in Cambridge
- The Cambridge shop has closed, and the chocolates are now made at a chocolate kitchen at St Georges Tower in Hatley St George, near Gamlingay
- Click and collect orders can be picked up from the kitchen on weekdays between 9am and 5:30pm
- The full range is sold online, and central Cambridge addresses get hand delivery twice a week
- Chocolate making and tasting courses still run in central Cambridge, along with corporate sessions and children’s parties
- The range includes pralines, ganaches, gianduja, caramels and liqueur chocolates, and a 24 door advent calendar of handmade chocolates appears each Christmas
Address: St Georges Tower, Hatley St George
Website: chocolatchocolat.co.uk
How to book: Order online for delivery or click and collect; book courses through the website
Plenty of people in Cambridge assume Chocolat Chocolat closed when the city shop went, but the chocolates are still being made, just in a village kitchen out west. Hatley St George is a small village near the Bedfordshire border, so this is a drive rather than a stroll. The courses are the best way in if you want to see how filled chocolates are actually made, and they are held in the city rather than at the kitchen. The website’s postcode for the kitchen is not consistent, so use the full address and the website’s directions rather than a postcode. Christmas posting deadlines are on the website and are worth checking early.
Huntingdonshire and West Cambridgeshire
West of Cambridge the land turns to heavier clay and the Great Ouse slides between St Neots and St Ives. The producers here include an oat farm that mills and packs on site, an 18th century watermill that still grinds flour, and a cheese ager working out of a business park.
Glebe Farm Foods, Kings Ripton
Indoor activity
- Glebe Farm Foods is a family farm business at Kings Ripton, north of Huntingdon
- Its oats are grown, milled and packed on the Cambridgeshire farm, and the company says the oats go from grain to retail pack within 150 metres
- PureOaty, its oat drink range, was described in 2025 as the UK’s first coeliac-certified oat drink
- The range now covers barista, organic barista, coconut and tea blend oat drinks, a soya drink, porridge oats, granola and gluten free oat flour
- PureOaty Tea-rrific oat drink and PureOaty porridge oats each won one star at the Great Taste Awards 2025
- The business relaunched its packaging with a new look in October 2026
- There is no farm shop; buy through the Glebe Farm Foods online shop, which sells drinks by the case, or from shops and cafés that stock PureOaty
Address: Glebe Farm, Kings Ripton, Huntingdon PE28 2DT (not open to visitors)
Website: glebefarmfoods.co.uk
How to order: Online through the company’s shop
Glebe Farm is the odd one out in this guide because you cannot visit, but it is too good a Huntingdonshire story to leave out. A family farm north of Huntingdon grows, mills and packs its own gluten free oats, and its oat drinks now sit in fridges well beyond the county. For anyone with coeliac disease, the certified supply chain is the point, not a marketing line. If your local café uses PureOaty in its flat whites, the oats were grown a few miles north of Huntingdon. Buying by the case online works out sensible if you get through a lot of oat milk.
Houghton Mill, Houghton
Indoor and outdoor
- Houghton Mill is an 18th century working watermill on the Great Ouse between Huntingdon and St Ives, run by the National Trust
- The mill still grinds flour the traditional way from locally grown wheat, and bags of it are sold to take home
- The tearoom uses the mill’s own flour for its cakes and scones and is open daily from 10am to 3pm
- The watermill itself opens from March to October, so it is closed through the winter months
- Wednesday visits are pre-booked guided tours from grain to flour, while Saturday visits are self-guided and need no booking
- Conservation work is under way on the mill’s north lucam, roof, weatherboarding, windows and gutters, so expect some works on the building
- Parking costs £3.50 for up to three hours or £7 for longer, and National Trust members park free by scanning their card
- There is no parking for coaches, motorhomes or caravans
Address: Houghton Mill, Houghton, near Huntingdon
Website: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cambridgeshire/houghton-mill-and-waterclose-meadows
Phone: 01480 301494
How to book: Book Wednesday guided tours online through the National Trust; Saturday visits need no booking
Most people come to Houghton Mill for the riverside walk and the tearoom, and leave without noticing they can take the mill’s own flour home. It is the producer in this guide with the longest pedigree by a distance, and the guided Wednesday tour follows the grain from the sack to the stones. Ring ahead if flour is the main reason for your visit, as the National Trust itself suggests. The watermill is shut until it reopens in March, but the tearoom was still open daily when we checked in November 2026. Pair it with a walk along the river if you want to earn the scone.
Rennet and Rind, Papworth
Indoor activity
- Rennet and Rind is a cheesemonger and affineur, a business that buys young British cheeses and ages them in its own rooms until they are ready to eat
- Its office and maturing base is on Papworth Business Park in Papworth Everard, west of Cambridge
- There is no shop in Cambridgeshire; the nearest shop is on the High Street in Stamford, just over the border in Lincolnshire
- The Stamford shop opens Tuesday to Saturday and closes on Sundays and Mondays
- Cheeses can be ordered online for delivery, and the website posts recipes using its cheeses through the year
- The business describes itself as a three-time Affineur of the Year, and its website lists a place on the World Cheese Awards Super Jury in 2025
- Speciality Food magazine featured Rennet and Rind in its Inspirational Cheese Retailers series in 2024
Address: Papworth Business Park, Papworth Everard (office, not a shop)
Website: rennetandrind.co.uk
How to order: Online through the website, or in person at the Stamford shop
Cambridgeshire does not have much of a cheesemaking tradition, so the most interesting cheese business in the county is one that finishes cheese rather than makes it. Affinage is the slow work of turning, brushing and waiting, and Rennet and Rind has built a national reputation doing it from a unit outside Papworth. You cannot drop in at Papworth, so for most readers this is an online order or a day trip to Stamford, which pairs well with a visit to Burghley.
Ely and the Fens
The black soil of the Fens is some of the most productive farmland in England, and Ely sits on its island in the middle. This is where the county’s makers are most concentrated, and half the producers in this guide are based here.
Harry Specters, Ely
Indoor activity
- Harry Specters is a chocolate company and social enterprise in Ely, set up in 2012 by Mona and Shaz Shah after worrying about job prospects for their autistic son, Ash
- The business exists to give autistic people paid work and training, and says it has supported more than 350 autistic people
- A core team of six, including the founders and Ash, is joined by extra staff for the Christmas and Easter rush
- In the three years to April 2026 it provided 13,162 hours of paid work for 33 staff and more than 1,600 hours of free training and work experience for 35 young people
- The company made almost 239,000 chocolates in a single year and says 65 per cent of its profits go back into the business
- Harry Specters received the King’s Award for Enterprise in 2024, and Mona Shah was appointed MBE in 2025
- Chocolates are made at Unit 8, St Thomas Place in Ely, but no visitor shop or opening hours are listed, so buy online or through stockists
Address: Unit 8, St Thomas Place, Ely CB7 4EX (production unit)
Website: harryspecters.com
How to order: Online through the website, including chocolate subscription boxes
Harry Specters is the clearest example in this guide of a producer where what you buy matters beyond the taste. Every box pays for hours of work for people who often struggle to get a first job, and the business works with schools and colleges to offer placements. The chocolates themselves have picked up 35 Guild of Fine Food and Academy of Chocolate awards, starting with Great Taste stars in 2014. Christmas and Easter are the peak seasons, so order early for gifts. A subscription box makes a good present for someone who already has everything.
Grain Culture and Bake Shop, Ely
Indoor activity
- Grain Culture is an Ely bakery that started in November 2018 in a garage with one small mixer, a bench and a couple of ovens
- It now bakes for cafés, delis and restaurants across Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, including the Old Fire Engine House in Ely and Shelford Deli
- Bake Shop, its own shop and general store on St Mary’s Street, is a short walk from Ely Cathedral and sells the bread and pastries fresh each morning
- Expect sourdough, white batch loaves, Danish-style rye, kanelbullar, custard tarts and bomboloni
- Bake Shop opens 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, 8am to 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 9am to 3pm on Sundays, and it takes cards only
- The shelves also carry farmhouse cheese, tinned fish, local honey, jams and natural wine, with six wines by the glass and monthly wine nights
- Bread and pastries can be pre-ordered, and the Good Food Guide lists the shop as a Local Gem
Address: 30 St Mary’s Street, Ely CB7 4ES
Website: bakeshopgeneralstore.com
How to book: No booking; pre-order bread and pastries through the website
Grain Culture is a proper Ely success story: a garage bakery whose bread now turns up at Fortnum and Mason and Tuddenham Mill. Bake Shop is where the public gets first pick, so go early for the best of the pastries. There is a bench out front and a courtyard at the back if you want to eat straight away. The late opening on Fridays and Saturdays turns it into a wine bar in the evening, which is unusual for a bakery. Remember it is card only.
Silver Oak Coffee, Ely
Indoor activity
- Silver Oak Coffee is a speciality coffee roaster in the Ely area, with its company base on Saxon Business Park in Littleport
- The coffee is roasted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and online orders placed by 11am on a roast day are sent out the same day
- The Yard on Newnham Street in Ely is its coffee bar, and The Rig, a mobile coffee unit, trades on Ely Market Square
- The Yard by Silver Oak hosted Coffee Fest Ely on Saturday 12 September 2026, a free event with bean roasting, latte art practice, cupping and home brewing advice
- Beans are sold through the Silver Oak website, and you can drink the coffee at The Yard or The Rig
- It sits within walking distance of Bake Shop and the cathedral, which makes a coffee and pastry morning in Ely very easy
Address: The Yard, Newnham Street, Ely
Website: silveroakcoffee.co.uk
How to book: No booking; buy beans in person or online
Silver Oak is the roaster that gives Ely its own coffee rather than borrowing Cambridge’s. The Rig on the market square is the easiest way to try it, and The Yard is the place to sit down with a cup. Coffee Fest Ely was a good sign that this is a business that wants people to learn how to brew at home, not just buy a cup. If you are visiting the cathedral, a takeaway from the market square and a walk down to the river is hard to beat. Check the website for The Yard’s current opening hours before you go.
Fosters Mill, Swaffham Prior
Indoor and outdoor
- Fosters Mill is a working windmill of more than 160 years at Swaffham Prior, between Cambridge and Newmarket, that mills flour sold as The Prior’s Flour
- The flour is stoneground and organic, made from local organic grain, and milled by wind power where the weather allows
- Master miller Jonathan Cook produces bread flours, cake and baking flours, oats, muesli and whole grains for home milling
- The mill shop opens on Thursdays from 9am to 1pm and on the second Sunday of each month from 2pm to 5pm
- Collection at other times is by appointment on 01638 741009
- The flour is also sold by mail order and through shops in Cambridgeshire listed on the mill’s website, as well as through the specialist baking supplier Bakery Bits
- Swaffham Prior has two windmills on the edge of the village, so make sure you head for Fosters Mill
Address: Fosters Mill, Swaffham Prior
Website: priorsflour.co.uk
Phone: 01638 741009
How to book: No booking for the shop; ring to arrange collection outside shop hours
There are not many places left in England where you can buy flour from the building that milled it, and fewer still where wind does the work. Fosters Mill stands on the edge of the village on the road towards Burwell. Home bakers who take sourdough seriously already know the name, and the strong white and wholemeal flours are the ones to start with. The shop hours are short, so plan around a Thursday morning or the second Sunday of the month. The latest dated updates we found were from the 2025 harvest, so check the website before travelling.
Watergull Orchards, Wisbech
Indoor activity
- Watergull Orchards is a family apple juice and cider business based near Wisbech, founded in 1995 by David Fisher after he started pressing juice as a hobby in the early 1990s
- It makes more than 20 apple juices, many of them single variety, from apples grown in Cambridgeshire
- Apples are pressed, bottled and pasteurised within about 36 hours of picking, with no added sweeteners, preservatives or colourings
- More than 10 ciders are made from the same apples, and because the site is allergen free, no yeast is added
- Watergull juices are sold in Waitrose, including a single variety Cox juice
- The family also offers a pressing service and sells at monthly farmers’ markets, which are listed on its website
- Watergull has sponsored Ely’s apple festival for years, and its founder came up with the original idea for it
Address: Wisbech (the farm does not take visitors or sell direct to the public)
Website: watergullorchards.co.uk
How to book: Buy at farmers’ markets, from stockists or by mail order through the website
Watergull is the closest thing the county has to a juice library. A single variety bottle of Cox or Bramley tastes noticeably different from the next, which is the whole point of pressing varieties separately. The business started with a family home surrounded by almost four acres of fruit trees and four children helping to press by hand. Otherwise the easiest place to find them is a farmers’ market or the juice aisle at Waitrose.
Bramblebee Farms, the Fens
Indoor activity
- Bramblebee Farms is a family-run regenerative farm in the Fens that breeds, rears, milks and butchers its own animals
- Its micro dairy uses milk from a Jersey and Jersey cross herd to make fresh milk, cream, butter and ice cream
- Beef comes from home-bred native and traditional cattle raised on grass, and pork comes from the farm’s own Old Spot pigs
- The farm also sells free range eggs, sausages, bacon, pies, faggots, vegetables and apple juice, with lamb bought in from local farms
- Everything is ordered through the farm’s online butchery shop, with free local delivery to the farm’s delivery area
- Christmas orders need to be placed separately from regular orders, for collection or delivery
- Farmers Guardian featured the farm in February 2026 as an example of a livestock business that has grown by selling direct to customers
Address: The Fens (no farm shop; delivery and collection only)
Website: bramblebeefarms.co.uk
How to order: Online through the farm’s butchery shop; check the deliveries page for your postcode
Bramblebee is the answer for anyone who wants to know exactly which field their Sunday joint came from. Jersey milk is richer than standard supermarket milk, and the butter and cream made from it are the things to try first. Old Spots are a traditional British pig breed rather than a commercial hybrid, so expect pork with proper fat on it. Because there is no shop to visit, check the deliveries page before you get your heart set on an order. Place Christmas orders early, as the farm asks for them separately.
Seasonal Highlights
Spring: Houghton Mill reopens for the season in March, with Wednesday grain to flour tours to book, and Harry Specters takes on extra staff for its Easter chocolate in March and April.
Summer: Jack’s Gelato in Cambridge has opened through the night on the summer solstice in late June, and the St Neots Farm and Craft Market runs on the second and fourth Saturday of every month on the Market Square.
Autumn: Coffee Fest Ely took place at The Yard by Silver Oak on 12 September 2026, Ely’s Autumn Orchard Fayre filled Palace Green and Cross Green on 10 and 11 October 2026, and Watergull presses the new season’s apples. Houghton Mill closes for the winter at the end of October.
Winter: Bramblebee Farms takes Christmas orders, Chocolat Chocolat sells its advent calendars and posts Christmas deadlines, Fosters Mill opens its shop on the second Sunday of December, which is 13 December 2026, and Jack’s keeps scooping right through the cold months.
A Note From Inside Cambridge
We wanted this guide to be about the people behind the food, not just the counters you buy it from. Several of the best producers in the county do not have a shop at all, and we have tried to be clear about where you can walk in and where you need to order.
If you make, grow or press something in Cambridgeshire and think you belong on this list, please get in touch. The same goes if you have visited one of these producers recently and something has changed, as we would rather correct a detail now than send someone to a locked door.
Before You Go
- Several producers here, including Glebe Farm Foods, Harry Specters, Watergull Orchards and Bramblebee Farms, have no shop to visit, so plan to order online or buy from stockists
- Houghton Mill’s watermill is closed from November to February, although the tearoom was open daily when we checked in November 2026
- Fosters Mill’s shop opens only on Thursday mornings and the second Sunday afternoon of each month, so ring ahead for any other time
- Bake Shop in Ely is card only
- Order Christmas chocolate, cheese and meat by early December, as producers ask for Christmas orders separately and posting deadlines come round quickly
- National Trust members park free at Houghton Mill; everyone else pays by machine or the JustPark app
- Ely makes an easy producer morning on foot, with Bake Shop, Silver Oak’s Rig on Market Square and the cathedral all within a few minutes of each other
- Farmers’ markets in Ely, St Ives and St Neots are where many smaller producers sell, so check the market calendars on the town and district council websites
- Breweries, distilleries and vineyards are covered in our separate guide to Cambridgeshire drinks makers
