A mom and daughter travel the world in search of the ultimate pastry — and say their favorite is a hot cross bun croissant at their local bakery.
Jessica Morgan-Helliwell, 26, and her mother, Louise Church, 48, are ‘Bakery Tourists’ — trying posh treats at artisan bakeries from Australia to Prague and Marrakesh.
They share a love of pastries and bakes — and for the last two years have been traveling the world to find the best and most unique bakeries.
They try to visit at least one new artisan bakery each weekend and plan their trips abroad around them.
The duo share their finds on their social media accounts under the handle @loveeatdrinktravel.
Their favorites include in Prague where at the Artic Bakehouse they had a cherry bomb pastry and at Brooki Bakehouse in Brisbane, an almond croissant cookie
But despite trips to London, Marrakesh and more, Morgan-Helliwell and Church say their all-time favorite spot is just eight miles from their home.
Their best pick is a hot cross bun croissant at Little Valley Bakery in Swansea South Wales.
“They had croissants with the iconic hot cross bun cross on top, and a buttery raisin filling — and it did actually taste like a hot cross bun. It was really unique,” said Church.
Morgan-Helliwell added: “It had buttery spiced frangipane, flaky croissant layers, and that iconic hot cross bun cross.”
Morgan-Helliwell added: “We’ve always had a love for pastries and bakes.
“We’ve got Italian heritage — my great-great grandparents are from Italy, so we love trying Italian bakes and food.
“We go to all kinds of different places and try new things along the way.
“We look at social media a lot for inspiration — I think that can be a really good way of finding new places to go.
“We always have an eye on the local area as well — we’ve got a lot of bakeries that have opened close to us recently.
“If we’re going abroad, we always have a look to see what’s about.
“We’ve just got back from Prague, and social media was a big part of looking into where to go.
“We’ve been doing social media content creating for about two years now, and going to all the local restaurants.
“We found that we were always looking for new places to go, so we thought we’d start documenting it ourselves – that’s where @loveeatdrinktravel came from.”
Church added: “We’re constantly looking for places to go — we never sit still!
“We love adventuring, so we’re always planning where we’re going on our next trip.
“We always try and go somewhere new on the weekends if we can.
“We’re planning our next trip abroad in a few weeks, to Marrakesh, so we’re already looking at places to try there.
“We go to London a lot — London is about three hours from where we live in South Wales, so we plan our trips around where we want to try.”
Morgan-Helliwell and Church are always on the hunt for bakeries that put a new twist on classic favorites — and they say that the look of the pastry is almost as important as the taste.
Church’s top choice is a traditional almond croissant, while Morgan-Helliwell recommends a fruitier version — describing a recent raspberry croissant as “one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.”
“On social media, people tend to love the pastry and bakery finds more than anything else at the minute,” Church said.
“I think a lot of people are interested in unique bakes as well – something different from the norm and aesthetically pleasing.
“I think people eat with their eyes, so it’s good to find somewhere the pastries look really tasty.
“There’s a local bakery to us — Little Valley Bakery — and around Easter time, they were doing hot cross bun croissants.
“They had croissants with the iconic hot cross bun cross on top, and a buttery raisin filling – and it did actually taste like a hot cross bun. It was really unique.
“I think people are experimenting with different flavors — the base of the pastry stays the same, but the flavors might be more Italian.
“The unique flavors put a twist on traditional bakes.”
Despite their traveling, many of their favorite places – like Little Valley Bakery and Refinery, both in Swansea – are close to home, so the pair plan to start a new series on TikTok to highlight the families behind some of their must-visit spots.
“We’ve decided we’re going to do a tour of Italian cafes,” said Church.
“A lot of Italian families moved to South Wales during the war and started cafes that do homemade cannolis and traditional pastries – so we want to try as many as we can find and talk to the families about what it’s been like to be in the cafe business for so long.”
But after two years of travel and content creation, Morgan-Helliwell and Church say the best thing about their journey is the opportunity to spend quality time together – while enjoying delicious sweet treats along the way.
“We absolutely love doing it — and it’s a great way of spending time together as well,” said Morgan-Helliwell.
“We go to all kinds of different places and try new things along the way — I think it’s really nice.”
Church added: “It’s a great way of bonding and spending time together — it definitely brings us closer together.
“Having that shared interest is really lovely, and we get to explore lovely places along the way – and eat some really good food.”
Morgan-Helliwell and Church’s top five recommendations from their travels are:
A white chocolate and pistachio croissant from Rock N Dough, Narbeth
A seasonal hot cross bun croissant from Little Valley Bakery, Swansea
An almond croissant cookie from Brooki, Brisbane
A cherry bomb pastry from Artic, Prague
An almond croissant from Monty’s, Neath
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