Heritage feels half-baked in famous pie-making village

DENBY Dale is historically know for its ancient links to the art of pie making.

The tradition began just over 200 years ago, where the quiet village loses its anonymity and achieves world-wide attention and an enormous pie is baked, the last one recorded was 20ft long, 7ft wide and 18 inches deep.

So I took it upon myself to try this masterpiece.

On approach to the ‘pie village’ I was slightly confused, it seemed half the village were proud of its heritage with floor-to-ceiling archived images timelining the tradition, whereas the other half were oblivious to the fact they lived in the world-famous village of pie.

With a few butchers to choose from along the high street, I chose to try David Gawthorpe, simply for its fivestar Google rating and excellent reviews.

Upon entry I was greeted by two friendly ladies, who were more than happy to wait whilst I indecisively decided which pie I would like to try, eventually deciding to take away a selection to do a taste test at home with my partner, Josh.

First up, we had Apple and Stuffing, which I would say was my favourite, it was delicious.

Second, the Stilton Pork Pie. Josh wasn’t a fan of this one, however, I would say this was due to his uncultured taste buds of stinky cheese.

Last up we had the Sweet Chilli, which in my opinion had the least flavour, it tasted like your standard pork pie to me.

Josh said: “The chilli was my favourite, it wasn’t overpowered by any different flavours but pork pie, and that’s how they should taste in my opinion. I don’t like to eat too much pastry, and for me these pies had just the right amount.”

“Overall I can understand why this particular butchers has a high rating, the meat quality is fantastic. I would definitely go back.”

Clean plates all round, perhaps my only advice would be to stick to your roots and order a plain traditional pie.

The one bizarre takeaway I would have from this experience would be how little pie shops there are in the village. On arrival I expected pie cafes dotted all around the high street but I was disappointed by what I found.

I almost hoped locals would be pie mad with their heritage, hanging pie bunting down the street, to my disappointment I found a few photos, a closed-down pie hall and a handful of butchers.