The best meat is meat you know


At the Hathersage Social Club, we think the provenance of the meat we use in our restaurant is really important. So much so that we go to the farm or the forest to source our meat.

Here are a couple of examples, so you know that we know our meat!

Hurst Farm in the Peak District is where we go with our top butcher, Paul.

Hurst Farm

We have the traceability of the tickets associated with the animal that come with the delivery.

Paul Bowyer at Hurst Farm

We order in the whole side of sirloin that is then dry aged for 28 days, so it produces a fabulously tasty steak.

Dry aged sirloin

See more pictures of Simon and Paul’s visit to Hurst Farm.

Sourcing venison isn’t just a process of chatting to the farmer over a nice cup of tea, it’s about an early start on the North York moors. The reward is some fabulous views of unchartered pieces of woodland.

In the forest on the North Yorkshire moors

It’s reassuring to be with a deer stalker who is hugely experienced in what he does, cares very much about the ethical culling of the animal and works with a highly trained sniffer dog.

Man and dog on the moors

The result is that we are then able to butcher the whole animal, using the haunch and saddle in a number of our speciality recipes but also some of the smaller bits of shoulder meat for the sausages we make.

Saddle of venison in its herb marinade

See more pictures from Simon’s deer stalking trip to the North Yorkshire moors.