The East Midlands A rare breed treat

Date Published:

11/09/2008

Map user, Spodger, added Abbey Farm to the map saying: "Visit the farm shop for the most fabulous tasting meat." I headed to the village of Stixwould to find out more

When I ask James Barclay how he got into farming the answer is surprising: "I had a heart attack," he says. Blimey. Around the same time James' wife Lucy was hit by a car while riding her horse and broke her back, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. Events that would have broken most of us simply made the Barclays look at their lives again. They decided their true calling was in rare and traditional breed farming, and so five years ago they bought three Lincoln red cattle, 25 acres of land and off they went. That takes guts in anyone's book.

As master of the fox hounds for 20 years before the hunting ban, James had many dealings with farmers. "We're a traditional rural farming family and wanted to develop a business around traditional breeds of England," he says. Over the years the farm grew and now there are 160 Lincoln Red cattle, 360 sheep (Lincoln long wool and Jacob breeds) and 120 pigs (mainly Gloucester Old Spot). James now works with two butchers who process the meat after it comes back from the abattoir. He's not only interested in traditional breeds but traditional recipes and preparation too.

And to this end we meet their latest additions - a Mangalitza gilt (the term for a female who's never had a litter) and boar. James explains why they're special: "In 1972 the Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig became extinct. Much later the lines of the Curly Coat were found in Hungary and Austria." It turns out many had been exported there in the 1900s. If the efforts of James and others are successful the breed should prosper and then Lincolnshire can join Suffolk as the only county with its own native pig, cow and sheep.

Show and tell

Education is another key area for the Barclays. They often host local school groups and offer placements to young adults who show an interest and are willing to work hard. They also run open days to show the public the work they do in promoting traditional and rare breeds. As James said in a recent Farming Weekly interview: "We can't expect people to know and understand what we do as farmers if we don't tell them what we do."

Out in the Land Rover we drop in on the cattle, mainly Lincoln Reds with a few cross breeds 'tinkering round the edges' as James puts it. They're beautiful beasts with dark rust coloured coats. Then, suddenly, I'm face-to-face with a bull. It looks docile but the famous 'Withnail and I' scene flashes through my mind.

Back at the farm we move on to look at some of James' Gloucester Old Spot pigs. One's ready to farrow and I was hoping to see the birth, but sadly the lady's not for turning, lying as she is on her side snoozing. James reckons she'll be ready in 48 hours. The sow is free to move around the pen, something not afforded to ones in farrowing cages. The trade off in this is that a new-born piglet can sometimes get crushed. James and the team have been experimenting with woodchip in the pen rather than the traditional straw in the hope that this might minimise that. It's just one of many tiny checks and tweaks they are doing to ensure the final product is the best it can be.

I'm invited into the house for a taste of some of that final product. There's some cold pressed beef, which has a great firm texture. I also try Lincolnshire sausages made with Tom Wood's special Lincoln Red ale as well as a glass of the stuff itself. I ask James about the business of being a food producer: "I believe it's an honour to deal with the Great British public. My greatest wish is for more people to take on board what British livestock farming is all about and the quality that comes from it, and savour that quality." As so, as Spodger said in his review on the Map, "Here endeth the lesson."

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