Long Acre Farm

Long Acre is a mixed woodland and pasture holding on the eastern edge of Nidderdale. Daniel keeps a small herd of Tamworth and Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs that move on a six-week rotation between oak coppice and clover ley.

“A pig that has not rooted in soil has not really been a pig.”Daniel Holroyd

The pigs are slow-growing by modern standards: 11 months to finish, compared to the industry average of six. They put on intramuscular fat in a way modern hybrids cannot, and the result is a depth of flavour and a melting texture in the belly and shoulder that surprises first-time customers.

Daniel deliberately keeps his numbers low. He says the woodland will only carry 60 pigs without losing its character, and he has no interest in pushing that figure.