Actually, it started with an orchard. In the early days, we ran Sherston Cider — pressing apples from old Wiltshire orchards and turning them into something worth drinking. We kept our first herd of Mangalitza in among the trees, as you would. They rooted and grazed and got fat on windfalls, and we fell completely in love with the breed. The wool. The temperament. And above all, the pork.
That was herd number one.
The Pub with Pigs
The next chapter was the Holford Arms — our attempt at something we called a smallholding pub. The idea was simple: grow it, rear it, brew it, cook it, serve it. Mangalitza were at the heart of it. Herd number two lived out back, and guests could watch the pigs that would eventually end up on their plates. It was the kind of connection between farm and fork that you can talk about, but is much better just to show.
We learned an enormous amount running the Holford Arms. About what people want when they eat well. About the difference between pork that has been grown slowly and pork that hasn't. And about Mangalitza in particular — a breed so different from a commercial pig that it almost belongs in a different category entirely.
The Quarry
Which brings us to where we are now.
Veizey's Quarry sits in the Cotswold hills just outside Tetbury — a former working limestone quarry, quiet now, surrounded by ancient hedgerows and the remains of the landscape that quarrying interrupted. We came here with a clear sense of what we wanted to do: not just farm the land around it, but begin the long process of bringing the quarry itself back to life.
Our third herd of Mangalitza is currently grazing the fields adjacent to the quarry. In time, as we work through the restoration of the site itself, the pigs will play a central role in that recovery — their rooting and grazing uniquely suited to breaking up compacted ground, cycling nutrients, and preparing the way for the wildflower meadows, woodland, and habitats we intend to establish. There are few better animals for this kind of work. That they also produce the finest pork we've ever tasted feels like a gift.
Why Mangalitza
The Mangalitza is a Hungarian breed, brought back from the edge of extinction in the 1990s. It's a slow-growing pig — our animals take the best part of two years to reach the table, compared to five or six months for a commercial breed. That time shows in the fat: deeply marbled, high in oleic acid, with a richness and depth of flavour closer to good Ibérico pork than anything you'd find in a British supermarket.
We grow them slowly. We feed them well. We don't cut corners, because the whole point is the result.
What We Make
We're at the beginning of what we're building here, and we want to be honest about that. Right now we have a small range of boxes and charcuterie — whole cuts, cured meats, the things we'd want to eat ourselves. We'll add to it as the herd grows and as the site develops.
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