RESTAURANTS

CHEESE SOCIETY

1 St Martins Lane, Lincoln (01522 511003; www.thecheesesociety.co.uk)

Charming café that has Rick Stein’s approval and is host to a well-stocked but tiny cheese shop. The owners also run a mail-order service.

HART’S RESTAURANT

Standard Hill, Park Row, Nottingham (0115-988 1900; www.hartsnottingham.co.uk)

The winner of Nottingham Restaurant of the Year 2006, Hart’s serves up modern British cuisine made from seasonal produce.

HOME FARM ORGANICS

Woodhouse Lane, Nanpantan, Leicestershire (01509 239228; www.homefarmorganics.co.uk)

Linked to an award-winning rare breed farm, this café-restaurant serves some truly tasty food such as free-range pork pies and great gourmet sausages.

THE PINK PIG
Holme Hall Holme Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire (01724 844466; www.pinkpigorganics.co.uk)

Sally and Andrew Jackson's Soil Association approved farm produces organic pork, eggs, vegetables and free-range poultry. In the farm shop, they sell all their own produce, as well as that of many local farmers including cheese, ice cream, jams and chutneys, Lincolnshire lamb and Lincoln Red beef. There is also a 90-seat restaurant serving homemade food.

SHAW’S
20-22 Broad Street, Hockley, Nottingham (0115-950 0009; www.shawsrestaurant.co.uk)

A bohemian, bistro-style, eatery over two floors of an industrial building that specialises in traditional foods such as roast rack of lamb with olives, garlic and rosemary.

THE WELLINGTON
Wellington, Herefordshire HR4 8AT
(01432 830367; www.wellingtonpub.co.uk)

This recently spruced up pub is good value, has friendly staff and offers fresh, home-cooked "simple British food with a twist", combining old favourites with seasonal ingredients. The specials board changes regularly depending on what ingredients the kitchen staff find at the market or from doorstep suppliers.Winner of Pub of the Year (Flavours of Herefordshire 2005 and 2006), and National Pub Roast of the Year 2006.


MEAT

AUBREY ALLEN
108 Warwick Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 4QP (01926 311208; www.aubreyallen.co.uk)

Their highland cattle come from Ballindaloch castle (the oldest herd of all) and their pig farmer, Jimmy Butler was named ‘Pig Farmer of the Year’ in December 2005. The Roux brothers have called their beef ‘unrivalled’. Offering daily hot lunch specials and dinner party packs as well as their gold medal winning fruit, nut and Guinness cake (Great Taste Awards 2005) they also provide a catering service from their team of chefs.

ALLAN BENNETT
15 Station Road, Codsall, Staffordshire WW8 1BX (01902 842204; www.allanbennett.com)

Allan Bennett has over 40 years experience and is committed to sourcing his produce as locally as possible. Member of the Guild of Q and sausage maker extraordinaire! Try his tender beef filled with apricot, raisins and brandy or Lamb fillet wrapped in fresh leeks.

BARN BACON FARM
Hardy’s Farmshop, Farndon, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 3SD, (01636 610700; www.barnbacon.co.uk)

Specialising in their traditional dry cure bacon and hams, this small family business also offers tasty sausages, free-range poultry, lamb and beef, rearing their animals in natural stress free environment. Their coffee shop serves breakfasts and lunches.

BERSWELL TRADITIONAL FARMSTEAD MEATS
Larges Farm, Back Lane, Meridan, Warwickshire, CV7 7LD (01676 522409; www.farmsteadmeats.co.uk)

Philip Tuckey’s family has over 400 years association with farming and butchery. Rare Breed Survival Trust accredited, their pork comes from the Gloucester Old Spot and Tamworth pigs and their chickens are free range from their own farm. All meat has total traceability and the stock varies according with the seasons and their supply. Also offer a range of cheeses including Berkswell Ewes Milk Cheese, jams and pickles.

CHANTRY FARM
Kings Newton Lane, Kings Newton, Derbyshire (01332 865698; www.chantryfarm.com)

Philip and Helen Sread offer free-range poultry, specially selected cottage industry products, fresh veg, puds, and icecreams. They are accredited by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and are proud of their Langham, Hereford and Dexter beef, Gloucester Old Spot and Large Black pork. Portland lamb and wild venison from the National Trust’s Calke Park is available seasonally. They are mentioned as one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes.

CHATSWORTH FARM SHOP
Stud Farm, Pilsley, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1UF (01246 583392; www.chatsworth.org )

Water buffalo steaks from the Peak District, pheasant and venison from Chatsworth and grouse from Bolton Abbey as well as the more traditional lamb, beef and pork. The shop tries to source is produce as locally as possible with the majority of the meat reared on the estate or by tenant farmers. The shop also comprises a deli, bakery, fruit and veg stall as well as a variety of products for the store cupboard.

GOODMAN’S GEESE
Walsgrove Farm, Great Witley, Worcester WR6 6JJ
(01299 896272; www.goodmansgeese.co.uk)

Part of Goodman Brothers, a family run farm, the poultry business was started as a hobby but has grown into an award-wining supplier of free-range oven ready geese and bronze turkeys. All their birds are fed with natural foods and are additive and chemical free. Seasonally produced asparagus.

GRASMERE FARM
Deeping St James, Lincolnshire
(01778 342344; www.grasmere-farm.co.uk)

Stuart Stables specialises in pork and bacon, and is one of a committed bunch of producers who cling to the traditional dry-curing method, which is very different from the industrial method of injecting the meat with brine, and sometimes other additives, to speed up the process and plump it up. Stables’s family rear all their own pigs, which are fed on meal milled at their own water mill. As well as the hams and bacon, you can order sausages, haslet, and every cut of pork.

GROWING CONCERN ORGANIC FARM
Home Farm, Woodhouse Lane, Nanpantan., Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3YG
(01509 237064; www.homefarmorganics.co.uk)

Mary and Michael Bell and their four children run this farm that has been organic since 1982. Their Herefords are grass fed and are grown up to 42 months (12 months older than most producers’). Their farm shop sells produce all grown in the surrounding acres and their coffee shop offers a range of homemade organic cakes and pork pies to eat in or take away. In the children’s barn, there is lots to keep the kids busy.

HAPPY MEATS
Bank House Farm, Stanford Bridge, Worc. WR6 6RU
(01886 812485; www.happymeats.co.uk)

All meat is reared on the farm or on their next-door neighbours so Happy Meats offers traceability. The emphasis is on animal welfare. Their free-range Gloucestershire Old Spot and British Lop pigs are bred in small families and are fed on GM free natural grains. Shetland, Jacob and Soay sheep and Dexter, Belted Galloway and Long Horn cattle graze on herb rich pasture. They produce oak smoked bacon, fish and ham. Will shortly be launching a range of traditional pies, pates and salamis.

HUNTSHAM FARM
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire (01600 890296; www.huntsham.com)

Richard Vaughan’s family has farmed in the Wye Valley for centuries. In 1996 he launched Pedigree Meats, concentrating on rare breed animals, producing meat that is a favourite with chefs. He concentrates on Longhorn beef, Middle White pork and Ryeland lamb. “Our philosophy,” he says, “is to give the animals a really good life, so they can give us really good meat.”

JACKSONS
118 Eastgate, Louth, Lincs, LN11 9AA (01507 602797)

Member of the Lincolnshire Quality Beef and Lamb Scheme Jackson’s is committed to sourcing locally produced grass fed meat. They have a blackboard that lists their suppliers. Also, offer Lincolnshire sausages, pork pies and stuffed chine.

MICHAEL KIRK
56 Woolpack Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 3NA
(01902 425064; www.porkiepies.com)

SS & A Kirk opened in 1934, now Michael Kirk upholds their reputation for fine food winning the West Midlands Supreme Sausage Championship and a Gold Medal for his pork pies in the Great Taste Awards 2005. Their sausages include Pork and Chilli and pork and black pudding as well as the traditional favourites. He also offers organic and non-organic Beef from the Marshes and Lamb and Pork from Shropshire and Staffordshire. His bacon is cured on the premises in the traditional way.

LLANDINABO FARM SHOP
21 The Homend, Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 1BN
(01531 632744; www.rarebreedsbutcher.com)

Accredited by the Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing Scheme, the shop is run by the Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing Co. All their meat is sourced from a 30-mile radius and their rare breeds include Gloucester Old Spot and British Saddleback pigs and Belted Galloway and British White beef. Local seasonal game is available and the shop has its own deli which sells eggs, cooked pies and ready meals all made with rare breed meats. The website offers a comprehensive guide to rare breeds and ethical farming. Produce is available to order online.

LOWER HURST FARM
Hartingon nr Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 0HJ
(01298 894900; www.lowerhurstfarm.co.uk)

All organic Hereford beef and lamb are reared on the farm. Labelling includes full ID, date of birth and slaughter. Offer a range of pies and pasties as well as Beef and Tomato sausages.

MANOR FARM SHOP
77 Main Street, Long Whatton, Loughborough, Leics LE12 5DF
(01509 646413; www.manororganicfarm.co.uk)

Accredited by the Soil Association, Graeme and Vivienne Matravers are committed to producing organic rare breed beef and lamb whilst maintaining the environment by encouraging wildlife. They also run a bakery and a farm shop.

MALVERN COUNTRY MEALS
37 Church Street, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 2AA
(01684 568 498); Terne Vale Victuallers: The Wainshed, Little Lightwood Lane, Cotheridge, Worcestershire WR5 5LT, 01905 333460

Started by husband and wife team Chrys and Fiona Tishall in 1994 with the aim of selling high quality local free-range products. Since then they have expanded, creating a new company called Terne Vale Victuallers, which was featured on Rick Stein’s Food Heroes. Famous for their sausages, bacon, gammon and faggots they won five Great Taste Awards in 2005.

NORTHFIELD FARM
Cold Overton, Rutland (01664 474271; www.northfieldfarm.com)

Former banker Jan McCourt raises rare-breed Dexter cattle, Dartmoor sheep and Old Spot pigs, and the farm is accredited as a butcher by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. He also works with about 50 small farms which raise extra animals for him so that Northfiield can supply everything from farm-made sausages and bacon to home-cooked casseroles, along with Bronze turkeys and geese at Christmas.

ORGANIC ROOTS
Crabtree Farm, Dark Lane, Kings Norton, Birmingham B38 0BS
(01564 822294: www.organicroots.co.uk)

A shop dedicated to supply organic produce to the general public, catering and wholesale trades with most food sourced from the attached farm. Stock includes rabbit, hare, mutton, venison, as well as beef, lamb, pork and poultry. There is a seasonal range of fruit and vegetables as well as a bakery.

F C PHIPPS
Osborne House, Mareham-Le-Fen, Boston, Lincs, PE22 7RW
(01507 568235; www.britainsbestbutcher.co.uk)

Andrew and Jill Nelson offer farm to fork’ traceability. RBS accredited they offer free-range and organic rare breeds such as Lincoln Red beef and Saltmarsh Hebridean lamb. They source as much as possible from their own farm and make 60 varieties of sausages including Lincolnshire sausage with Bateman’s champion XXX beer and blue stilton and port wine. Their signature dish is Lincolnshire stuffed chine and their deli sells a variety of cooked pies and local cheeses. Try their speciality plum loaves.

REDHILL FARM
Blyton Carr, Gainsborough, Lincs (01427 628270; www.redhillfarm.com)

Producers of national award-winning free-range pork, using simple, traditional methods to make quality dry-cured hams and bacon, handmade sausages and pork pies, all produced on the farm from their own herd. Many of Redhill’s more mature customers recall this as the type of pork they used to eat about 40 years ago - slowly reared, succulent and full of flavour.

WOODLANDS FARM
near Boston, Lincolnshire (01205 724778; www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk)

Andrew Dennis raises organic Lincoln Red Beef and rare-breed Lincoln Longwool sheep, whose meat is hung for ten days to maximise flavour. At Christmas he has become famous for his organic Bronze turkeys, which potter in the woods in small groups and are slaughtered out of sight of one another to cause minimum stress.

ALTERNATIVE MEATS
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
(0844 5456070; www.alternativemeats.co.uk)

An extensive range, from free-range, UK-bred ostrich and rose veal to crocodile and springbok.

WINE

TANNERS
Shrewsbury, Shropshire (01743 234455; www.tanners-wines.co.uk)

Exclusive wines and carefully selected bottles for everyday drinking.

MARKETS

LEICESTER MARKET
Market Place Tue-Sat, 7am-6pm. (0116 2232376)

Reputedly the biggest covered market in Britain, and with a 700-year history. You will find exotic fare such as plantains, coconuts and breadfruit, lemon grass and galangal, alongside local cabbages and spuds. Butchers’ stalls offer traditional cuts and such rarities as oxtail, lambs’ hearts and sweetbreads.

LUDLOW LOCAL PRODUCE MARKET
Castle Square Second Thurs of the month, 9am-2pm.
(www.localtoludlow.org.uk)

Already spoilt rotten with Michelin-starred restaurants, residents of this gastronomic hotspot have a wealth of choice at their farmers’ market, served by small- scale producers operating within 30 miles of town. Old apple varieties, home-grown King Edwards and sunflower seeds, Shropshire honey, organic fruit and vegetables, free-range duck, goose and quail eggs, smoked goods (butter, cheese, meat, fish, fruits, nuts and seeds), rare-breed pork, game, fishcakes, pâtés and chowders, speciality sausages and terrines, cheesecakes, Greek-style yoghurt, ice-cream, hand-made chocolates, Staffordshire oatcakes, flans, pies, lasagne, 30 varieties of scotch egg, including a veggie version, samosas, kebabs, salads, olives, pickles, preserves, wines, cider, bottled beers, liqueurs, and more, and more, and much, much more.


STRATFORD-UPON-AVON FARMERS’ MARKET
Rother Street, first and third Sat of the month, 9am-2pm.
(01608 664659; www.warwickshirefarmersmarkets.co.uk)

About 90 producers are registered with this robust market in the old market area of historic Stratford. All produce, including baked goods, beers, Gloucester Old Spot pork, wild boar and local cheeses, fruit and veg, and plant seats, must come from within a 30-mile radius.

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