The Artful Diner took a trip into the wilds of… well… Essex to meet a fourth generation farmer whose idea to make small-scale farming pay became The Rare Breed Meat Company.

Four generations of the Blackwell family had been farming at Herons Farm in Colchester, Essex, when Howard Blackwell struck on a new idea. In the early 80s he started supplying butchers with geese and turkeys, then Gloucester Old Spot, Oxford Sandy and Black pigs.

“I got talking to my mates in the pub, some of whom were small producers, and realised that the sort of numbers they were rearing would be viable if we all got together,” says Howard. This was never going to be farming on a commercial scale, but luckily it coincided with a revived consumer interest in rare breed meat and traceability. The Rare Breed Meat Company was born.

For some farmers, like Howard’s friend, Robert Prestney, it was an opportunity to get back into farming after giving up due to spiralling costs and poor returns. For others, it allowed them to continue rearing the rare breeds they always loved.

What they do…

Now, The Rare Breed Meat Company supplies London restaurants including Plateau, Sartoria and Butlers Wharf Chop House, as well as Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. The breeds they supply vary from the White Park – a very ancient and rare cattle breed, kept in Britain for more than 2,000 years – to Red Poll cattle, Salt Marsh lamb and Gloucester Old Spot pigs.

They have an on-site butchery and use a local abbatoir, but, to give you an idea of the scale, around 20 pigs a week are supplied through the company, from four or five farms. The run-up to Christmas is their busiest time of year, when Herons Farm supplies free-range turkeys and geese.

It was a beautiful sunny day when I went to visit with head chef at Plateau, Allan Pickett. We visited a couple of the local farms that supply the Blackwells, including Mark Mcloughlin and his rare breed cattle at Lower Green Farm and Liz Barrow and her Gloucester Old Spots at Brook Street Farm.

See more in the gallery below…