TRADER PROFILE-Little Jack Horner’s

For our first trader profile of the year, we caught up with James Hughes-Davies of Little Jack Horner’s Sausage Rolls.

Hello James! Tell us a bit about Little Jack Horner’s.
We’re a small team of bakers that make handmade proper sausage rolls in our little production kitchen in Mells, just outside Frome. The pastry is thin and flaky, made to a secret recipe known only to us. The meat and dairy that we use is all free range: outdoor reared, high welfare and locally sourced from East Somerset. We are a BBC Good Food Champion, a multiple Great Taste Award Winner and recently won the 2016 small business of the year at the Mendip Business Awards 2016. We sell at events and festivals up and down the country as well as locally, we home deliver nationwide, and we also have a nationwide wholesale service.

Why did you choose to come and trade at The Frome Independent?
It’s our local event! We live in Frome and it means a lot to us to be involved.

What are the benefits to selling directly to the public at markets?
Well, it provides good sales, cash flow and exposure. In the context of The Frome Independent, it’s good to be recognised as a worthy local business, being able to sell directly to the local community which we are a part of – it’s enjoyable. Frome has always been a market town historically, and The Frome Independent is regenerating that role. It’s a major positive.

Tell us about your best-selling product and the work that goes into creating it.
Our Pork and Sage sausage roll. It’s our signature classic recipe. The pork is from our friend’s small-holding outside Shepton Mallet. It’s the best pork from the most pampered, spoilt pigs we know, and I like to think you can taste that.

What is your favourite stall at The Frome Independent?
Hmmm, so many to choose from! I’m a food person, so that’s where my attention is. Ah-Ma’s Dumplings are just incredible, I’d always go there to eat, saving space for food from Stefano’s Homemade Food by the footbridge to the Flea, which is always delicious. Westcombe Dairy’s Cheddar is the best in the country, so I’d mosey up Stony St to pick some of that up, stopping to pick up some Somerset Charcuterie and also the amazing local rapeseed oil from Fussels – again the best in the country I think… I’d have a pint of Funky Monkey from Milk St Brewery… and finish up at Somerset Deli’s cheese stall at the top of The Westway for some ripe cheese bargains and a spot of good trader banter.

Which fellow trader inspires you and your work?
Bioaqua Farm – strong ethics and dreamers. People should visit them in the Somerset Farmer’s Market section and see what Amanda and Antonio are achieving in eco-integrated micro-farming. They’ve just gone and done it. Inspiring story about sticking to your principles, working hard and making things happen.

You can catch Little Jack Horner’s and those famous sausage rolls on Scott Road on Sunday 5th March.