Joanne's Journal

When I was a child, I lived across the road from The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop in a building called Church Stile.

When I first read Hansel and Gretel, I remember shrieking out loud because I had MY very own ‘gingerbread house’ just a few yards away and there wasn’t a witch in sight. I was not only the luckiest little girl in the Lake District but the luckiest girl in the whole wide world ...

Psychoanalysts argue that children’s dreams act as mental ‘roadmaps’, potentially offering unconscious insights into their grown-up selves’ future pathways through life.

Happy New Year.

I appreciate that some people are still suffering the aftereffects of Storm Goretti which blasted most of the country at the start of 2026.

As my Grasmere Gingerbread® office sits beneath our former Church Stile family home directly oppositeThe Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, the seasons’ sights and sounds often trigger deep-rooted childhood memories.  

Most of us hate change, especially if we believe that it is not for the better…

Curiously, my latest unhappy communication to all our dear customers ‘across the pond’ immediately brought to mind happy childhood experiences of a ‘pond’ in Grasmere.

Please indulge me while I trip down memory lane...

After nearly six decades living in and around beautiful Grasmere, I am often asked what is the nicest part of the Lake District and where should I go swimming.

Recently, in quieter moments - and particularly since my children left home - I have begun to look back on my life and think wistfully about youthful adventures, past times and friends and family no longer here.

After the overwhelming response to my inaugural Joanne’s Journal - with many readers urging me to write more often about life behind-the-scenes at Grasmere Gingerbread® - the topic for the sequel flew off my fingertips.

For years customers have urged me to write a behind-the-scenes ‘blog’ about Grasmere Gingerbread® and Grasmere itself - valley, village and lake - as it was the magical combination of all three geographical ...