Pedigree pork – helping keep rare breeds alive
Pig breeders Donald and Mary Shere from Oakridge Farm near Bampton specialise in Oxford Sandy and Blacks and supply us with our pork.
The breed is amongst the oldest British Surviving Rare Breeds. It produces superb pork with an amazing flavour of its very own.
Donald says: “It’s wonderful to think that our little farm is making a big difference in the conservation of this beautiful pig. Thanks to customers, like Paul and Donna, their team and diners at The Swan, who appreciate quality, we are able to continue in confidence and keep producing ‘proper tasty pork’ for all to enjoy.”
The Butcher Shop, Bampton
The Butcher Shop, which is owned by nearby farmer John Wescott, represents all that is great about locally reared and sourced meat.
It provides the joints for our popular Sunday roasts and a whole host of other products. You can’t get any fresher or tastier produce than stuff reared nearby. What’s really important about local butchers is they can provide provenance for all the items they stock. They really are experts. The selection changes each week as they react to supplies that come in.
The beef, lamb and pork comes from selected local farms, including the Wescott’s own farm. The meat travels less than 30 miles to the local abattoir near Taunton ensuring the smallest possible carbon footprint.
John says: “We have a mixed livestock farm only four miles away from the shop. To allow us to produce lambs for sale throughout the year, we lamb some ewes around Christmas and the main flock in March and April. The cows mainly calve in the spring to our Beef Shorthorn bull called Arni and are winter housed away from the worst of the weather.”
