If you drive south out of Hobart, under the watchful gaze of the Wellington Range, you’ll eventually end up at Huonville and the deep south of Tasmania beyond. Down here, vineyards and orchards inter twine with rugged forests, and the mountains are blanketed in dense forest thats tretches all the way around to the west coast of the island.

As well as having scenery that takes your breath away, The Huon Valley is known for its fresh produce, namely apples, pears, cherries and fish.

Here in the Deep South you’ll find a foodie heaven and, if you know where to look, you can discover some absolute gems. Come with us on a journey around Tassie’s south to find some places you’ve heard of, and some that are off the beaten track.

1. BUSH BAKERY

If you turn off the highway between Hobart and The Huon Valley, and drive along rural Leslie Road, you’ll eventually find Bush Bakery. You can be forgiven for thinking you’ve taken a wrong turn when you don’t come across a big bakery though. What you’ll find instead is a secret little bakery, sitting in a paddock on 22 acres, right next to the owners’ house.

Rick and Julie Rook opened 19 years ago by placing a sign on the highway and waiting to see what happened.

“[It was] like a garage sale,” says Julie. “We never said, let’s have a bakery—it grew from seed.”

Growing from a bakery that opened only on Saturdays to what is now a fulltime venture, the bakery now turns out 80 different lines including seven different varieties of vanilla slice.

“We never need to advertise,” says Julie. “People come from far and wide.”

Everything at Bush Bakery is made onsite, even the beef in the pies, which comes from the property’s own cattle when available.

“We’re in an out-of-the-way location,” says Julie, “so people are pleasantly surprised when they see our large range of products.”

Also making sausage rolls, pies, biscuits, slices and cakes, Bush Bakery is a must-visit. Just not between Christmas Eve and mid- February, when the owners close for an eight-week break.

Our pick: Choc block

2. CYGNETURE CHOCOLATES

In a little historic building that used to be the Old Bank of Cygnet, you’ll find some fine chocolate. Cygneture Chocolates choose their ingredients based on the seasons, which means their range is ever-changing and so fresh that you might find the fruit in your chocolate was only picked the very same morning.

Along with the handcrafted choccies, you’ll also find purees, preserves, bottled and dried fruit, nuts, herbs and flowers, some of which are grown onsite.

With a focus on slow food, and bean-to-bar ethics, Cygneture Chocolate sits well in the town of Cygnet with its organic, responsible ethos that ensures the area remains beautiful for generations to come.

Our pick: Strawberry and gooseberry, and raspberry and blackcurrant marshmallows

3. BANJO’S BAKERY CAFÉ

Banjo’s Bakery Café is a Tasmanian institution. Now with 40 stores across Australia, the bakery chain began its life in Tassie, and you’ll find a Banjo’s on Main Road in Huonville.

Banjo’s first opened in 1984, providing a bakery with café-style comfort where customers could sit down and enjoy their freshly baked treat with a coffee.

The bakery’s ethos of using Australian ingredients wherever possible, supporting local communities and producing preservative-free, traditional and artisan bread is as strong today as it was in 1984.

With a focus on responsible packaging, Banjo’s encourages their customers to bring their own containers for takeaway products.

Banjo’s is known for its crowd-pleasing favourites such as the Fruit Nut Loaf, which contains 46 per cent fruit, nuts and grains; Ancient Grain High Tin; small savouries; and Raspberry Housecake; as well as limited edition specials like the Double Cheeseburger Pie, which—as the name suggests—consists of a double cheeseburger wrapped in pie casing.

Our pick: Spinach and ricotta roll

4. HUON VALLEY BAKERY CAFÉ

If you’re coming down the Huon highway, schedule in a visit to Huonvalley Bakery Café, known as a vegan staple in Huonville. Their staple piece here is the famous vegan doughnuts, which are known to entice customers from hours away. Chocolate, sprinkle and custard, they have the lot.

Reminiscent of a 1980’s bakery, the bakery sports old-school thickshakes, apple-turnovers and chocolate éclairs as well as a range of homemade vegan tasty treats.

Customers describe a visit to the bakery as cruelty-free, guilt-free indulging.

Malcom and Sue Parker have owned the business for two years. With their son Dylan brewing some of the best coffee the region has to offer, it’s easy to see why business is booming.

Our pick: Chocolate doughnut

5. SUMMER KITCHEN BAKERY

If you’re looking for organic sourdough bread, you should pop into Summer Kitchen Bakery. John Glendinning and Marie Van de Gumster own and run the bakery, and bake a range of sourdoughs using organic flour and grains in the wood-fired oven.

You must try the Huon Valley Sourdough loaf, which is made from unbleached flour and wholemeal flour mixed with olive oil, malt and salt. It’s the kind of sourdough that, instead of getting stale, increases in flavour the next day, as the cultured flavour intensifies.

Also on the menu are cakes (their carrot cake has a cult following) and pastries, sandwiches and coffee, plus pies that locals rave about. In the pies you’ll find ingredients such as wallaby and beef as well as a vegetarian pie people travel here for. (One customer takes the vegetarian pies back to the Gold Coast for her daughters).

You can also find Summer Kitchen Bakery at Salamanca Market every Saturday morning.

Our pick: Huon Valley sourdough loaf

6. CYGNET WOODFIRED BAKEHOUSE

This bakery is known as the place where the staff are just as nice as the food on the shelves. The bakery houses a brick oven, eight-foot by six-foot, which is stacked with wood several times a week to fire it. Once the fire burns out, the radiant heat is all that’s needed for baking.

Almost everything here is baked in the woodfired oven with owner and baker Cameron Mckenzie scheduling production around the heat of the oven.

On offer is a range of sourdough breads—all made by hand— pastries, and pies and sausage rolls (a visit here is not complete without tasting the Wallaby Pie).

Vegans are also well catered for here (try the Mushroom, Kale and Lentil pie), as well as people looking for a treat with a twist, such as the Hazelnut and Fig cake.

Also serving great coffee and house-made gelato, this is one bakery you won’t want to miss.

Our pick: Light rye Vienna loaf