A COUPLE who swapped the rat race for the ‘good life’ on an eight-acre Forest farm have won a £10,000 prize for their tasty sausage rolls and pasties.

Former development fund-raiser Deborah Flint, who runs Cinderhill Farm with husband Neil, only sold one sausage roll for £1.80 on her first foray into the food business at Coleford Country Market in 2013.

But going door-to-door near their St Briavels home, she sold the rest of the batch, and repeat orders helped launch the business to go on and become a £380,000 turnover enterprise today.

As well as the £10,000 investment for winning the first ever Midcounties Co-operative’s Food Glorious Food competition, the farm will also have an exclusive product listing in all 52 of Midcounties Co-operative’s Gloucestershire food stores.

Deborah and former computer innovator Neil had no farming experience when they moved from Oxfordshire in 2011 to found their ‘eco farm’, which now has Saddleback pigs and Black Welsh Mountain ewes, plus chickens and geese.

And because cash was tight at the start when they started diversifying, pastry was kept to a minimum on their sauasge rolls, meaning lashes of meat which led to the ‘Sausage Roll of Exceeding Enormity’ they produce in their thousands every week today.

As demand grew, an old garage was converted into their Pie House kitchen in 2013, where they now produce 6,000 products a week, including their mouthwatering ’Foggy’ pasty, with buyers including Riverside Cottage and fans including TV foodie Jay Rayner, who described the sausage rolls as ‘bloody good’.

The judging panel Deborah had to impress at the Dragons Den-style competition pitch featured 10 businesses. It included former England rugby player and Celebrity MasterChef winner Phil Vickery, farmer and rural TV presenter Adam Henson, Paul Williamson from Hillside Brewery in Longhope and Miss Macaroon founder Rosie Ginday. 

Deborah said: “We’ve worked so hard to create the perfect sausage roll and can’t believe that our product has been crowned the winner of the Food Glorious Food competition.

“We’ll be using the £10,000 investment to buy some much-needed additional cold storage and expanding our (seven-strong) team so that we can bring Cinderhill Farm’s products to more people in our community and beyond.

“The competition has been such an exciting process and it was fantastic to meet all the judges on the panel, who are all incredibly inspiring.

“We’re proud to be flying the flag for Gloucestershire food and drink producers and proving that farming still has a huge role in the community here.”

Cinderhill Farm will also receive business development support and mentoring, as well as a marketing package to help launch them into the stores.

Phil Ponsonby, CEO at The Midcounties Co-operative, said: “Our Food Glorious Food competition is all about showcasing what makes Gloucestershire food and drink some of the best in Britain, and we’re proud to be able to support Deborah and Cinderhill Farm to achieve their ambition.

The campaign was run in conjunction with Hartpury University and Hartpury College, Folk2Folk and The Growth Hub.