Pub and restaurant’s idyllic live larder takes local sourcing a step further

How meat is raised matters so much to Ian Dent and Diana Hunt that they have recently co-opted a farm between their two establishments, The Millbrook Inn at South Pool and Gara Rock at East Portlemouth where they are rearing pigs, lamb, ducks and hens.

And as the farm becomes established soon their menus will not only specify the exact field in which the meat was raised, but focus on what is available at the farm at the time.

Ian Dent and Diana Hunt, who purchased the pub this year from the South Pool community and also took over the nearby Gara Rock restaurant in March, have always been fastidious about their food supply sourcing food from the surrounding sea and countryside.

But they decided to take local-sourcing a step further by creating their own live larder at The Millbrook Farm because they wanted to have a say in the welfare of the animals which eventually end up on the plate. Claire Mundy, who works in The Millbrook Inn, and her partner Malcolm Church, own the farm and are the custodians of all the livestock reared on the farm.

Ian said: “We’ve always used very good local suppliers, but this keeps it in the family, knowing the people who look after the animals, where the sheep and pigs sleep and how they are looked after. We want the animals to have as good a life as possible.
“For the pigs it means living in family groups and late weaning. Pigs are happiest outside where they can forage. The ducks and chickens are all free range too.

“We are also advocates of head to tail eating too, so our chef Jean-Philippe Bidart will continue to use the whole carcass. There is very little wastage.”

Producing its own meat also means The Millbrook is able to keep their prices very competitive while serving the very best meat available. There also plans afoot to eventually focus the menu on what is available at the farm.

The most recent editions to the growing family are six in-lamb ewes, and bantams will soon be added to the flock. “They produce really small eggs which are great for the salads,” said Ian. A herb garden has been planted and some home grown fruit and vegetables will be included on the menus.

The Millbrook Inn already has its own miniature veg shop, where members of the local community are able to sell their excess produce in unmanned shed outside the pub.

“Years ago, there was much more self-sufficiency among communities, and it is lovely to think we are going a little bit further down that road too. One of old ewes will be slaughtered soon, so mutton will be on the menu for the first ever time,” said Ian.