FARMING MATTERS: Dedication brings just rewards

Small independent retailers have been the backbone of this country, and to find a fabulous butcher is always a huge bonus.
Picture credit: haddenham.netPicture credit: haddenham.net
Picture credit: haddenham.net

The Egg House Butchery in Haddenham has been a major success story ever since it opened in the village in 2015, and the devotion and dedication to be the best reaped great rewards when the shop recently won a major award.

Owner Emily Jeffrey closed the shop for a day to take all her staff down to London where they received the Countryside Alliance award for the best butchers shop in the south east.

She said: “It was lovely, it’s not every day you get to go to the House of Lords. We didn’t win the national award but it was good to meet other people doing similar things with the same ethos as us.”

The business started life at the foot of the Chilterns in a small building in Kimble in 2012 before moving to Quainton for a while before settling in Haddenham, where Emily was born.

She said: “It’s been massively successful and getting even busier with more people from further afield discovering us and travelling some distance to get here. I think it’s because we sell 100 per cent grass fed beef. We have people coming from Oxford, Swindon and London.”

The business began as a direct result of a love of food. Emily believes that the best meat comes from farmers who care passionately about how their animals are reared. In addition to selling fresh meat and poultry, the shop also sells quality sausage, bacon, gammon and ham, plus local Guernsey milk and cream, ice cream, bread, cheese and olives, eggs and delicious homemade sausage rolls, pies and quiches.

Emily said: “I make all the pastry, it’s a family recipe going back at least four generations.”

Helping Emily in the shop is a great bunch of people. Her head butcher is Scott, ably assisted by trainee butcher Rebecca who makes all the sausages. Both Scott and Rebecca previously trained as chefs. Angie is a part time butcher and also the main delivery driver. Justin is on a scholarship from Australia, Ruth is chief sausage roll maker and Jordan works on Saturdays.

If you want to check out the shop take a trip to the beautiful village of Hadenham or go online to www.egghousecharcuterie.co.uk

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