KITCHEN TABLE TALENT
In this series we celebrate the home-grown entrepreneurs who have turned their hobby into a thriving business
We celebrate home-grown entrepreneurs who have turned their hobby into a thriving business. This month: the Norfolk pie maker
With a clang, Sarah Pettegree opens one of four sturdy oven doors. As steam billows out, she removes a baking tray laden with 30 golden pork pies, each individually scored to indicate the flavours within – one hole for onion marmalade, three for piccalilli. There may be a chill in the air outside, but it’s warm in the kitchen – the buttery smell of cooked pastry wafting through the room. It’s a scent that few people can resist, possibly because it stirs up a sense of nostalgia. In fact, the British love of pies dates back as far as the 14th century, when the first ‘pyes’ became popular. However, the delectable savoury creations that Sarah makes for her business, Bray’s Cottage Pork Pies, couldn’t be further from those early versions. With beautifully embellished pastry crusts and carefully selected fillings, they turn the humble pie into something altogether more special. Sarah first started her business – based in Holt in the north Norfolk countryside – when she spotted a gap in the market for high-quality, hand-raised artisan pies. “I didn’t want to lean too much on the past,” she says. “So I started from scratch with my recipes.” Distancing herself from more traditional butcher’s shop-style creations, she hoped to make something that could be enjoyed by everyone and also reflected her own palate, which meant, for a start, that no jelly would be included in her creations: “I found that there was a strong demographic – mainly made up of younger people and women – who just don’t like it.”
Sarah’s fascination with flavour first began when she was a child helping her mother in the kitchen of the farm she grew up on. “I’ve always been interested in the alchemy of cooking,” she says. It’s a love that’s clearly evident in her experimental approach to her pie fillings – one featuring black pudding from Wisbech has quickly become a bestseller, while the addition of prune and brandy during the winter months is also a big hit. There are, of course, certain combinations that haven’t proved so popular. “I always wanted to have a go at making pies with seaweed, to get that nice umami flavour that’s very on trend,” Sarah says. “I tried mixing it through, but let’s just say the outcome was not nearly as appetising as I’d wished for!”
Despite her early interest in cooking, it took years for Sarah to revisit this passion. Instead, following a humanities degree, she embarked on a career in the Civil Service, working as a management accountant in Norwich. Although she admits the city was “no heaving metropolis”, the urban life left her craving a return to the countryside of her childhood: “The only wildlife I’d see were pigeons. I missed walking over rutted ground instead of concrete pavements.” Eventually, she decided to make the move – and in 2007, she, her partner Derek and their cat (called Mouse) moved into a cottage outside the Georgian market town of Holt. The relocation provided the perfect opportunity
“I’ve never had an overdraft or any loans – I just sat down with a spreadsheet”
to put her dream of starting a pie business into action. Aware of the limitations of her tiny kitchen, Sarah used savings to rent a space in a converted flint hay barn in the grounds of the nearby country house, Bayfield Hall. This not only gave her the chance to work somewhere surrounded by meadows frequented by barn owls, marsh harriers and summer swallows, but also meant that she had neighbours, based in the house’s other converted outbuildings, who were fellow food and drink producers.
Drawing on the skills she’d acquired as an accountant, Sarah set about getting the business off the ground: “I’ve never had an overdraft or taken out any loans. I just sat down with a spreadsheet, put in various scenarios and worked out how much we needed to sell, and at what price, to stay afloat.” Although she didn’t have any culinary qualifications, she started small, developing her own recipes and selling her pies at local markets, where she listened carefully to any feedback. As her confidence grew, she researched and approached nearby pubs and delis, asking if they would like to stock here creations. Many said yes. Any early profits were reinvested, while Sarah turned to social media as a means of free promotion: “Twitter is a great way to tell our story – people like to help each other out, too. If you’ve got a question, no matter how mundane, someone will usually get back to you with an answer.” Now, just over ten years later, Sarah’s pies are available at hundreds of independent shops up and down the country (although keeping fellow Norfolk businesses well supplied still remains close to her heart). She also has a thriving online shop, where customers can order four-tier ‘wedding pies’ and personalised celebration pies (inspired by those historically served at banquets) as well as an array of more traditional sizes.
A busy working week – baking on Mondays and Thursdays, mixing up new batches on Wednesdays and deliveries every day in between – means lunch hours have become sacred for Sarah. When she can escape, she uses this time to explore, and occasionally gather special ingredients to work into her recipes. Today, that means a walk down the valley to hunt for wild garlic growing on the woodland floor. “I love foraging,” she says, “but I’m a bit of a hostage to the weather – the garlic doesn’t come until it wants to!” Back in the barn, a small team of helpers – mainly recruited from local villages and headed
up by Sarah’s partner Derek – are neatly packaging up boxes for delivery. With a customer base ranging from pubs to wedding parties, they never know what kind of order will come in next. “We made one for the Colman’s Mustard Shop in Norwich recently,” Sarah says. “The mayor came along and cut a slice with his ceremonial sword!” Her recipes have also proved popular with the likes of Heston Blumenthal and Jimmy Doherty and, since 2013, she has been invited to feed the well-heeled guests at Soho House’s annual festival in London. “There’s nothing better than being told ‘That’s the nicest pork pie I’ve ever tasted’,” Sarah says, smiling. “When I was an accountant, no one ever said, ‘That’s the best spreadsheet I’ve ever seen’, so it’s a great feeling when people are so full of praise – that’s what makes it all worthwhile.”
For more information about Bray’s Cottage Pork Pies and to buy Sarah’s products, visit perfectpie.co.uk. CL readers can receive a 10 per cent discount by using the code CLPIE10 at the checkout (offer ends 31 March 2018).
See other makers and bakers at the Country Living Spring Fair. If you are starting your own business and would like to apply for a free stall at our Pop-up Market, see opposite.