A popular doughnut pop-up has launched a bakery-café at 69 Pleasant Street in Woodstock just in time for foliage season. Farmer and the Bell held its soft opening on Saturday, October 4, and serves breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Owner-baker April Pauly started selling French crullers from Woodstock’s Angkor Wat Restaurant in December 2021. The self-taught baker developed her cruller recipe during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, using eggs from her farm’s 100 chickens in the custardy doughnuts. In April 2022, she launched a weekend pop-up at the Simon Pearce-owned Parker House in Quechee, drawing crowds for flavors ranging from sugar-and-spice to maple to blackberry lemonade with rose dust.
In February 2023, a “very pregnant” Pauly and her husband, Ben, put the business on pause to “expand our family, slow down for a moment and digest what we’ve learned,” she said — while looking for a permanent home.
The Woodstock resident said she’d “always crushed on” an old service station at the east end of town. After the crumbling building was torn down, she connected with Eva Douzinas, who owned the property and planned to replace it with a structure built by local firm Geobarns.
Farmer and the Bell now occupies the new 82-seat space, which features an upstairs mezzanine looking into the glass-walled kitchen, as well as an enclosed patio and outdoor seating. There are 16 parking spots on-site.
“We have a really fun, casual restaurant row going on in the East End,” Pauly said, noting that the heart of Woodstock is walkable from her location. The second outpost of Stowe’s Ranch Camp, a mountain bike shop and restaurant, recently opened nearby at 431 Woodstock Road.
“There’s a lot more energy down here. It’s getting its moment,” Pauly said.
Farmer and the Bell’s starting menu is pared down to serve as many customers as possible, Pauly said. It includes French crullers, focaccia, soups, smoked maple creemees, housemade raspberry lemonade, and drip coffee and cold brew from Middlebury’s Little Seed Coffee Roasters. Offerings will expand week by week to include breakfast sandwiches, focaccia sandwiches, salads and wraps.
This article appears in Oct 8-14 2025.
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