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THE MEAT COUNTER

We run a proper old-fashioned meat counter, or "window" in butcher speak. The "window" is the old shop window, but what matters is the butcher behind it with knife and saw ready to help you. Get your steak cut to the thickness you like... a rack of lamb French trimmed... a joint cut to just the size you want... would you like the crackling scored in diamonds or strips? Ask for what you want, and we will do our best to provide it. Give us some notice and we will guarantee it.

We are what you might call a micro-butchery, the meat equivalent of a brewery. We may be small, but we do everything the traditional way. All our meat (apart from game) comes from local farms. We buy whole carcasses, and make sure it is all used. Typically we take a lamb and one or two pigs a week. Our beef is hung for us at East Stour, and we get it back a quarter or half at a time.

Working this way there is only so much of each cut, so if you need something in particular it is wise to order. Once it is gone, it is gone! We do the main butchery in the middle of the week. If you want something unusual such as a whole shoulder of pork left on the bone, order before Tuesday as we would normally take it off the bone.

Venison comes from the woods on the Stourhead estate. Wild roe deer are a serious pest to both commercial forestry and woodland ecology, but on the plate they are a tender, flavoursome delight. Our stalkers are working most of the year, but the doe season from November to March yields the very best meat. We get other game in when in season. We have Cotswold White chickens all year: large, slow grown, free range chickens with real depth of flavour.

We cure all our own bacon, along with hams, salt beef , pastrami etc.. We have about a dozen diffent sausage flavours, including a number of gluten free recipes. We make three or four varieties fresh on Mondays and Thursdays, and keep a stock of other flavours in the freezer. If you want a quantity of a particular flavour, let us know beforehand and we will put it on the list for the next time we make sausages.