THE Angel Inn Hotel, based on the High Street in Pershore, is pleased to reassure customers that they know exactly what is in their dishes and can trace their ingredients right through from farm to plate as part of their commitment to using home grown and local produce.

The company which manages The Angel, Spirit Hospitality Ltd, and its chief executive, local entrepreneur Darren Eden, have been working on the ‘Home Grown and Local’ project for the past two years to ensure they bring their customers the highest quality food and supporting local suppliers.

Their meat is fully traceable and sourced either from local suppliers or their very own St Catherine’s Farm, based in Stonehall Common, and they also source seasonal vegetables and salad from the awardwinning Revill’s Farm Shop in Defford.

Their own exclusive, handreared flock of Suffolks take pride of place on The Angel’s menu, with daily specials featuring St Catherine’s farm lamb and the popular St Catherine’s farm lamb and mint burger also on offer.

Their pork also comes from St Catherine’s Farm’s own herd of pigs or the herd of Large White Pietrain from Woodland Pigs, Redmarley.

Meanwhile, their beef comes from HW Smith and Sons, The Vineyard Farm in Ledbury, and is used to make delicious dishes such as their eight-hour braised Herefordshire blade of beef or their braised steak and Guinness pie.

Food ethics are hugely important to The Angel and, in addition to supporting local suppliers, they are also committed to using ingredients which have been sourced responsibly.

They work with independent seafood supplier, M & J Seafoods, who operate their own British Skippers’ scheme and are dedicated to responsible sourcing.

The Angel’s Home Grown and Local agenda is particularly close to Darren Eden’s heart, as he calls St Catherine’s Farm home.

Darren, with the help of his family, friends and colleagues, is very hands-on with the farm’s everyday tasks such as sheepshearing, herding and feeding the pigs.

He said: “It has always been my aim to get to this point, where we have a delicious menu that I am very proud of and which is comprised of high quality locally sourced ingredients.

“It also means a lot to me that St Catherine’s Farm can supply The Angel with exclusive hand-reared ingredients.

“Although it is something we have had in place for some time, it is nice to know after the recent furore over the horse meat scandal and the subsequent drop in consumer confidence that we can offer our customers total reassurance about where our meat has come from.”