On Thursday 10th August, Cllr Johnathan Lane and I met with Deborah and Neil Flint at their small farm nestled in the hills of St Briavels. Deborah and Neil run the highly successful Cinderhill Farm, producing artisan sausage rolls and ‘Foggies’ (a word coined by them to describe their version of a pasty, a twist on the Welsh ‘Oggy’ with the F representing the Forest of Dean). They moved to the Forest of Dean in 2011 and quickly started looking at ways they could support the farm, eventually landing on sausage rolls after perfecting the recipe. They reared the pigs, made the pastry and developed the sausage rolls entirely themselves on the farm. Initially starting out at Coleford market, the business has gone from strength to strength, they are now producing 500,000 sausage rolls a year and supplying delis both locally and nationally. In fact, they still make the sausage rolls and Foggies on the farm in their ‘Pie House’ and surrounding buildings.
Deborah and Neil’s priorities have always been the animals and staff. They pride themselves on offering excellent staff benefits, they pay a living wage, offer a pension, physical and mental health care, team lunches, just to name a few. They want to encourage staff to grow within the company and themselves, and believe by giving staff these opportunities they will be happier, healthier, and have a strong future in the organisation. Cinderhill Farm also recognise the potential of young Forester’s and provide apprenticeships to tap into this talent, giving school and college leavers a taste of a different career path. The brilliant Cinderhill Farm apprentices are featured in this Gloucestershire Live article https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/teenagers-discover-how-forest-dean-8560433.
Deborah and Neil also believe happy animals make great tasting sausage rolls. While they don’t rear their own pigs for production anymore (they simply wouldn’t meet the demand), the animals are raised on a farm in Yorkshire that shares their ethics. In many UK farms, the normal practice is to rear pigs indoors in small pens and slaughter at 4-7 months. However the Yorkshire pigs are outdoor reared, have spacious pens, they have the freedom to roam, wallow, choose where they sleep, and interact with other pigs too. Their slaughter age is also much older, about 7/8/9 months.
Being an ‘eco farm’ is at the heart of Cinderhill Farm, repurposing, recycling and reusing wherever possible. They use solar panels and an air source heat pump for low carbon energy and deliver/collect other businesses goods while on long delivery journeys, cutting emissions and halving their distribution costs. They support efforts to preserve Britain’s rarest beetle, the Cosnard’s Net-winged Beetle, only found in two places in the UK, the woodland surrounding Cinderhill Farm and the South Downs. The Cosnard’s Net-winged Beetle has only been seen a handful of times, but can spotted adorning their packing (see on top of the red heart) and on their very own Cinderhill Farm mugs.
We discussed what the biggest challenges a growing company like Cinderhill Farm faces, and the answer was clear - a lack of suitable infrastructure. Deborah explained that they have been unable to find a suitable commercial unit in the Forest of Dean meeting their high their eco standards of building and services, the need for a clean environment and neighbourhood, and sufficient electrical supply of a 100% renewable nature. This is a huge problem for them. Without an improved capacity, they cannot take on bigger orders, they cannot hire more staff, they cannot develop new products, and the positive force they have created at Cinderhill Farm cannot grow. The Forest Economic Partnership believe partnership working with businesses, communities, organisations, and individuals is the only way to create a vibrant and economically successful Forest. We recognise the need for action, rather than just talking. As such, Deborah has been invited to become an FEP Director, bringing her experience as a growing business owner in the Forest to the Board. We hope that with Deborah’s skillset the Forest Economic Partnership can continue to support fantastic Forest businesses like Cinderhill Farm as they navigate the future.
