Introducing

Venison

Venison is perhaps the most ethical meat we can eat in Britain today. Actually, it might be the most ethical native protein available to us year-round. We're proud to launch our own line of parkland venison to honour this.

Packington Estate

parkland venison

Introducing

Packington Estate venison

We’ve partnered with Packington Estate, which has been in James Guernsey's family since the 17th Century. The farms under James management have transitioned to adopt regenerative  farming and land management methods that deliver a net biodiversity gain, capture carbon and improve soil health. 

We consider that parkland venison is simply the best available, both from a position of quality as well as ethics. In the wild, venison are free to consume whatever they can and this can mean any kind of crops, which may or may not have been subjected to sprays meaning there is no certainty as to what the deer have eaten; conversely, farmed venison is commonly fed concentrate feed which is unnatural. 

Parkland venison is the best of both worlds; the deer are free to graze and browse the vegetation on the estate which we know has received no chemicals. They can be observed from a distance and intervention can happen if required. As their numbers need to be controlled we are happy to offer this surplus: possibly the best tasting meat available.

Venison in the UK

Much of the venison in the UK is an invasive species, introduced by landowners hundreds of years ago; however, now in the wild without natural predators, their numbers must be controlled to maintain the balance of nature. There are six main breeds of deer in the UK which we need to control

Fallow Deer

The European fallow deer, also known as the common fallow deer or simply just fallow deer, is native to Turkey and possibly the Italian Peninsula, Balkan Peninsula, and the island of Rhodes in Europe, but has also been introduced to other parts of Europe and the rest of the world.

Sika Deer

The sika deer, also known as the spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to the Russian Far East in the north. The sika deer is one of the few deer species that does not lose its spots upon reaching maturity. Spot patterns vary with region. The mainland subspecies have larger and more obvious spots, in contrast to the Taiwanese and Japanese subspecies, whose spots are nearly invisible. Many introduced populations are from Japan, so they also lack significant spots.

Chinese Water Deer

The water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is a small deer superficially more similar to a musk deer than a true deer. Native to China and Korea. The deer have a few peculiarities, including a pair of prominent tusks (downward-pointing canine teeth) and its lack of antlers; it is therefore classified as a cervid. Water deer are indigenous to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, coastal Jiangsu province (Yancheng Coastal Wetlands), and islands of Zhejiang of east-central China, and in Korea, where the demilitarized zone has provided a protected habitat for a large number.

Muntjac Deer

Muntjacs, also known as barking deer or rib-faced deer, are small deer of the genus Muntiacus native to south and southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, with remains found in Miocene deposits in France, Germany and Poland. An invasive population of Reeves's muntjac exists in the United Kingdom and in some areas of Japan. In the United Kingdom, wild deer descended from escapees from the Woburn Abbey estate around 1925. Muntjac have expanded very rapidly and are now present in most English counties and have also expanded their range into Wales, although they are less common in the north-west. The British Deer Society coordinated a survey of wild deer in the UK between 2005 and 2007, and reported that muntjac deer had noticeably expanded their range since the previous census in 2000. It is anticipated that muntjac may soon become the most numerous species of deer in England and may have also crossed the border into Scotland.

Red Deer

The red deer is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of western Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Tunisia, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. The red deer is the fourth-largest extant deer species, behind the moose, elk, and sambar deer. It is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, like camels, goats, and cattle.

Roe Deer

The roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), also known as the western roe deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, well-adapted to cold environments. The species is widespread in Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, from Scotland to the Caucasus, and east to northern Iran and Iraq. In England and Wales, roe have experienced a substantial expansion in their range in the latter half of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st century. This increase in population also appears to be affecting woodland ecosystems. At the start of the 20th century, they were almost extirpated in Southern England, but since then have hugely expanded their range, mostly due to restrictions and decrease in hunting, increases in forests and reductions in arable farming, changes in agriculture (more winter cereal crops), a massive reduction in extensive livestock husbandry, and a general warming climate over the past 200 years. 

Ethics

Is this the most ethical protein we can eat?

Venison is perhaps the most ethical meat we can eat in Britain today. 

Actually, it might be the most ethical native protein available to us year-round.

The word "venison" comes from the Latin verb for hunting: venare. 

For centuries, venison was restricted to the wild meat landowning families sourced on their estates. 

The Normans and the Plantagenets demarcated much of England into royal forests, preventing farming on those lands in order to promote the growth of deer, wild boar and specific birds they enjoyed hunting. 

It thus became almost impossible for ordinary Britons to eat any venison unless they poached it, and the penalties for that were severe.

This entrenched a perception that venison was intrinsically high-end or "posh", the effects of which linger to this day. 

It isn't helped by the fact that a deer – perhaps especially the majestic red deer of the Scottish Highlands – is an exceptionally handsome creature, in a Landseerish sort of way. 

When Country Life magazine launched a campaign in 2008 for the UK to eat more venison, it knew it would have to brook fierce opposition from a public inclined to sympathise with good-looking mammals.

Deer numbers have never been higher. The six free-roaming British species total well over 1 million animals, who thrive even though 350,000 are shot and tens of thousands are involved in car accidents every year. 

Wild venison is thus highly sustainable. The animals destroy large tracts of British farmland: a single deer can devour an entire bed of lettuce in about a minute. 

They strip the bark from trees and munch their way through flowerbeds and fields. At a time when many grain farmers are facing significant difficulties owing to pressure from the supermarkets, promoting the consumption of venison might offer them some help.

Yet, in the UK, we still do not eat much of our own venison. Instead, we export the wild meat from our hills and import farmed venison from New Zealand. 

Venison is high in protein, low in fat and full of vitamins B12, B6 and omega 3 essential fatty acids. We want to see that change. 

Venison doesn't need to be strong and gamey; when not hung for a long time, it is actually very delicate and close in favour to a fillet steak.

Venison