The Egg House Butchery, located next to the former Red Lion pub at Church End in Haddenham, is a well-known and popular shop in which Ricky & Emily have built a business based on the desire to source the meat they sell as locally as possible in order to support the local small-holders and small-scale farmers.
Indeed, a lot of their meat comes from within 10 miles of the shop and it is always from British outdoor-reared, free-range animals.
Staff at the Egg House Butchery specialise in producing their own range of traditional and speciality pork sausages, all made from free-range British pork, and made using natural casings.
The shop has some very loyal fans in the local area, but has recently been recognised on a much wider stage. The Egg House Butchery was recently nominated as Best Butcher for the Countryside Alliance Awards last Autumn, and the staff discovered that they were a finalist just before Christmas.
Emily tells us that "the awards were divided into five categories, plus the Clarissa Dickson Wright Award. Approximately 4,500 businesses were nominated in total, so to be amongst the final 40-odd businesses shortlisted as a finalist across these catagories was a huge honour."
"There were 10 finalists in the Butchers' category. The two top businesses are second- and third -generation butchers, with long-standing track records, so we were quite proud of ourselves as we have only had a shop presence for not quite two years, and the business itself is only three and a half years old."
The Awards ceremony was conducted a couple of weeks ago, in late April. You can read more here.
Ricky and Emily received a lovely letter of support from John Bercow MP and attended the Awards Ceremony at The House of Lords, no less! According to Emily, "it all felt very grand!"
Ricky added: "The awards are based upon the quality of the business, not (as is so often the case) the sheer number of people who voted. Therefore to be considered amongst the best in the country by the Countryside Alliance was particularly humbling."
On behalf of the Haddenham community, we extend our warmest congratulations to the couple and to their team for this richly deserved recognition.
