Organic Pork from Eastleach Downs Organic Farm

Sam and Helen Wade have been raising pigs on their award winning Soil Association certified Organic farm for almost 30 years – we really feel that the pork they produce is some of the most high-welfare, sustainably produced pork available. And it is absolutely delicious – we have been eating it for years!

As someone that is interested in buying our beef we feel sure that you are here not just because it is some of the tastiest beef around (that’s a bonus!) – but because you care about what you are eating, you want to support local businesses and also want to know how your food is produced and who is producing it.

We work with the welfare of our animals as our number one priority and the benefits they are bringing by utilizing their grazing to improve our natural environment as a close second. Sam and Helen are very much on the same wavelength which is why we are joining up to offer you the chance to buy their pork – please read on below to hear more about how they farm at Eastleach Downs and why – then send us an email orders@sandyhillmob.co.uk to order some beef and pork boxes!

Helen and Sam introduce Eastleach Downs Farm:

Here at Eastleach Downs we are an entirely organic farm and have been for almost 30 years.

We took over the tenancy of a partly organic farm in 1992 as first generation farmers, and converted the rest of the farm to organic status as soon as we could. We choose to be organic mainly because of animal welfare concerns, but have grown to realise the huge benefits to the environment of organically farmed land and we now have various pieces of land in Higher Level Organic Stewardship. We feel very lucky to be able to farm in an area of Special Scientific Interest and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Our pigs are outdoors all year round as we feel it’s vital they can express their natural rooting behaviour - that’s why their snouts are shaped the way they are!

We are currently converting our breeding stock to pedigree British Saddlebacks (a rare breed) and are privileged to have an extremely rare blood line here. We will cross these sows with a leaner boar to ensure just the right amount of fat in our delicious pork, while conserving a native breed hardy enough to cope with our winters and with enough colour and coat to cope with our seemingly ever hotter summers.

These animals will also be better able to cope with a forage-rich diet than a more modern pig, which will mean we can rely less on cereals and imported protein and use more of what we can grow on our own Cotswold soils.

All our produce is handmade in our on-farm butchery and is only ever from pigs born and reared here. Our bacon is cured by hand for 28 days before hand slicing and our sausages are made without preservatives.

We are very proud of our pork and we never tire of hearing our newer customers express surprise at the depth of flavour that Eastleach Downs Organic Pork has. Comments we hear most often include “I haven’t tasted pork like it in years!”, “Tastes like pork used to taste” and “The best pork we’ve ever tasted!”