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The Story of Our Gingerbread Shop

Firstly, Lesley Ward founded our shop, Horsham Gingerbread, in 2013 in the town of Horsham, West Sussex. This ancient town was once famed for its gingerbread production. It was the notion of reviving this fame and her collection of historic, handwritten recipes that inspired Lesley to develop her products. All of the biscuits are baked in small batches at a family-run bakery near Chichester. Plus, they only contain the finest locally-sourced ingredients, to make sure that each biscuit is as delicious as it can be! Very much a family business, Lesley and her daughters continue to experiment with old recipes and new flavours to develop the gingerbread shop’s range of products.

Horsham Gingerbread: Lesley, Anna and Lucy

Anna, Lesley and Lucy

Quality control department

Quality control department!

Our History

In July 1803, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who lived just outside Horsham, wrote to an aunt. He asked her to buy some gingerbread from a Horsham market to take on a picnic. Some sixty years later, the gingerbread industry in Horsham was at its height!

But in 1917, Horsham’s last gingerbread maker, Mr Lovekin, died. So, along with him went his secret recipe. 

That was, until 2009! Jeremy Knight, the curator of the Horsham Museum, discovered a 200-year-old recipe book from the Shelley family. It contained a clearly written recipe for gingerbread. But, this wasn’t the sort of easy to follow recipe that we know today. Lesley Ward then spent a whole year working with the recipe until it was perfect. Then, the journey of our gingerbread shop and it’s historically inspired, delicious recipes began!

Naturally Gluten Free Gingerbread Shop

Our gingerbread biscuits do taste delicious. But even better, all of them are gluten-free, apart from the original recipe! We use locally-grown linseed, a naturally gluten-free product, alongside black treacle or local honey. These make tasty replacements for the missing gluten!

We make the original recipe separately from our gluten-free products. It contains local wholemeal flour.

Visit our shop page to discover our complete range.

Lesley and Horsham Gingerbread featured on the popular BBC series Escape To The Country

“We happened across your wonderful biscuits last weekend and I’m afraid we’re hooked – the best accompaniment to cheese ever!”

Kate Kingsmill

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