Our own Welsh lamb from the hill and beef from the Hereford herd, hung and cut at the back of the shop, the field on the ticket
The butchery counter
Lamb from the flock of four hundred ewes on the hill above the shop and beef from the Hereford cross herd in the bottom fields, slaughtered at the abattoir in Maesteg, hung in the cold room here for a fortnight for the lamb and four weeks for the beef, and cut on the block at the back of the shop by Dafydd. Pork and bacon from the farm at Pendoylan; our own sausages on Fridays.
The lamb on the counter was on the hill you can see from the café, and the beef was in the field by the stream. That is the whole argument for the butchery: four hundred Welsh Mule ewes and forty Hereford cross cattle, grass-fed, slaughtered twenty minutes away at Maesteg, hung properly in the cold room behind the shop, and cut on the block by Dafydd, who has been a butcher for twenty years and a farmer for all of them.
Lamb all year, with spring lamb from May and hogget through the winter for the people who know hogget is better: legs, shoulders, racks, chops, neck for the pot, mince, and a half lamb boxed and labelled for the freezer at £145. Beef from the herd, four weeks on the bone: sirloin and rib for the weekend, topside and silverside, brisket and shin for the slow oven, mince from the chuck, and a quarter beef boxed by arrangement. Pork, bacon and gammon from the Pendoylan pig farm, which is one of the six on the shelf; our own sausages made on Fridays from the Pendoylan pork and our sage. Chickens from a free-range unit near Usk; the Christmas turkeys from the same family.
Everything is cut to order and the knife work is free: a leg boned and rolled, a shoulder butterflied, a rack French-trimmed, the mince ground while you wait. The ticket on every tray carries the animal's tag number and the field; walk up the hill and you will see the rest of the flock. Orders by phone, email or the order page, collected from the counter or on the box van on Thursday and Friday. Saturday orders in by Friday noon.
What you get
- Welsh lamb from our flock of four hundred ewes, hung a fortnight
- Beef from our Hereford cross herd, four weeks on the bone
- Pork and bacon from the Pendoylan farm; our sausages on Fridays
- Half a lamb boxed for the freezer, £145; a quarter beef by arrangement
- The animal's tag and field on every ticket
- Cut to order, knife work free; on the box van Thursday and Friday
What it costs
Leg of lamb £18.50 a kilo, lamb chops £22, shoulder £14.50, mince £13; sirloin £29.50 a kilo, topside £15.50, brisket £12.50, beef mince £11.50; Pendoylan sausages £9.20. Half a lamb boxed £145. The seasonal calendar says what is in the fields this month; the boxes page builds this week's box with the total.
Questions about the butchery
Is it really your own lamb?
Yes: the flock is on the hill above the shop, the tag number is on the ticket, and the movement book is in the office if you want to see it. The only thing on the counter that is not ours is the pork, which is from Pendoylan, and the chicken, which is from near Usk.
Can I order half a lamb?
Yes, boxed and labelled for the freezer, usually ready within a week: two legs, two shoulders, chops, neck and mince, about fourteen kilos, £145. A quarter of beef by arrangement, about forty kilos, from £420.
This week's box, built in a minute, on the step on Thursday.
Small, medium or large with this week's contents listed, eggs, bread and milk if you want them, and the total before you order. By Tuesday noon; collected from Thursday or delivered Thursday and Friday within eight miles, £3.50, free over £30. No subscription.