Where to buy the best sausages The Ginger Pig 8–10 Moxon Street, London W1 or from its stall in Borough Market, London SE1 (020–7935 7788; www.thegingerpig.co.uk) The Observer Food Monthly’s Food Awards 2009 winner. Offers butchery classes
London House Stores Dyffryn Ardudwy, North Wales (01341 247235) Organic, rare-breed, local sausages. Best Sausage Maker in North Wales award 2009
J. C. Douglas Quality Butchers Main Street, St Boswells, Roxburghshire (01835 822061) Winner at the Scottish Butchers Federation Annual Pork Sausage Competition 2009, and overall Scottish Pork Sausage Champion
Boyton Farm Boyton, Warminster, Wiltshire (01985 850381; www.boytonfarm.co.uk) Farms its own meat, for which it is the sole retailer; Tamworths are a specialty. One of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes
Crombies of Edinburgh 97 Broughton Street, Edinburgh (0131–557 0111) More than 100 different types of sausage to choose from, for the true connoisseur
O’Hagan’s Chichester, West Sussex (01243 649133; www.topsausages.com) Claims to have been the ‘first specialist fresh sausage shop in the world’; winner of Best British
Sausage Maker Ballencrieff Rare Pedigree Pigs Longniddry, East Lothian (01875 870551; www.ballencrieffrppigs.co.uk) Best Specialty from Scotland at the Great Taste Awards. Old-fashioned breeds farmed in the old-fashioned way
Hayman’s Butchers 32 Woolbrook Road, Sidmouth, Devon (01395 514578; www.haymansbutchers.co.uk) Best Young Sausage Maker in the South West, this traditional family business was originally established in 1907
H.G. Walter 51 Palliser Road, London W14 (020–7385 6466; www.hgwalter.com) One of Market Kitchen’s Local Food Heroes 2009. A past winner of the Best Butcher in Britain award
The Essex Pig Company Jimmy’s Farm, Pannington Hall Lane, Ipswich, Suffolk (01473 601770; www.essexpigcompany.com) Winner of The Independent’s Blind Taste Awards. Rare-breed pigs all raised on chef Jimmy Doherty’s Suffolk farm
Steadmans of Sedbergh 2 Finkle Street, Sedbergh, Cumbria (01539 620431; www. steadmans-butchers.co.uk) A Countryside Alliance Best Rural Retailer, numerous gold awards at the Pork Sausage of the Year competition, and one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes
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On Devon's Saunton Sands, the future is FerndownThis modern masterpiece, for sale with Savills, boasts 12,000sq ft of luxury contemporary living with beach views.
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Curious questions: Where did the Snakes and Ladders board game come from?Games of Snakes and Ladder punctuated most of our childhoods, but how many of us know about its Ancient Indian origins and the fact that it was designed to teach us about liberation from the transmutations of karma?
