Walk The Pork - The Food Web

The story of a food web in The Brecks

We were joined on Walk The Pork by Vanessa Scott from Strattons, Scott Taylor of The Elveden Estate, Tony Potter of Impsons Butchers and William Gribbon from Heygates Farms, businesses both large and small - all of whom in some way contribute to ‘TheBrecks sausage Roll’ which is symbolic of the successful food web that we are involved with here in The Brecks. With less than 100 food miles being involved in it’s production it contributes towards the success of several family businesses who in turn create employment for others.

Vanessa Scott - Strattons

Can I start you off with a thought , one which is part of The CPRE report  and was voiced by Monty Don.  ‘Mapping Local Food is a powerful way to form our own connections to the land, landscape & nature. It’s a chance to enjoy seasonal produce, to discover the best, most wholesome and freshest food around us and the most distinctive varieties and taste. It is our chance to support a food network that is rich with variety and diversity and meaning. It’s our chance and we need to seize it’.

Now if you just hold that point I want to talk to you about something that happened to me about five or six years ago. I was in a ‘gastro’ pub on the outskirts of Norwich and the owner was determined to bend my ear about local produce. He knew that along with Richard Hughes of The Lavender House I spend a lot of time talking about sourcing food locally and was keen to point out that I had got it all wrong.  At the time he had a chain of hotels in small market towns and his philosophy was to buy it in and bang it out cheaply. He was very proud of the fact that he was a guest of honour at a dinner in London held by a national low cost catering wholesaler as that was where is was buying all his produce from.

Now I will skip ahead to what we do here in The Brecks. The Brecks Sausage Roll was my introduction to The Black Pig. The initial introduction came from Liz Truss our local MP who introduced me to Rob at Scotts Field Pork and it was through him that I met Tony of Impsons who is our local butcher in Swaffham. A butchers staffed by people with proper skills, they can talk about the meat and the cuts and tell you how to use the different products that they sell – so if you read about something in a recipe book they will happily present you with the cut you require for it.

The Brecks Sausage Roll which we produce in the cafe at Strattons is made half and half from Scotts Field Pork as well as Heygates potatoes and root vegetables from The Elveden Estate which people always find surprising as they think it is such a ‘meaty’ sausage roll.

It is projects like this that keep me interested in running our hotel, meeting the producers that come to the back door with their amazing produce and  stories.

A little footnote to my story.

 The man all those years ago who was selling breakfasts at £2 a head is no longer (strangely enough) doing that . Our business goes from strength to strength and it is because of items like our sausage roll which is a premium product (as they retail at £2.75). This might be considered to be  expensive, but it is because we have picked  the best ingredients we can . We have picked individual items that come from this area, that aren’t available elsewhere and which not only tell the story of the unique landscape of The Brecks but gives all our guests a unique visitor experience. It is a unique selling point which we should never underestimate.

Tony  Potter of Impsons

Our involvement with this food web is through the Black Pig which we take from Scotts Field Pork and sell not only to hotels in the area but in the shop as well. We add value by producing a dry cure bacon which more and more people are asking for as they are tired of the froth producing stuff they buy from a supermarket. We also produce a sausage – The Brecks Banger which goes into The Brecks Sausage Roll.

In our shop we probably have about 300 years worth of combined experience.  A local Tescos opened recently and the butchers there have hours rather than years of experience, something which the public need to know & understand if The British Butcher is not to continue to be a dying breed. As with all rare breeds you need to use us or lose us!

William Gribbon – Heygates Farms

At Heygates we farm about 6000 acres in around Swaffham on The Brecks light, sandy soil. We predominately grow potatoes and have created a brand called The Norfolk Peer. This is a high quality new potato that is sold in supermarkets , markets like Covent Garden & national wholesalers as well as more local ones in Norfolk. With The Norfolk Peer we have created a brand out of a commodity and are proud that here in Norfolk we are producing something of real quality. It is this potato as well has flour from our mills that goes into the production of The Brecks Sausage Roll.