Helen Mark travels to Warwickshire, a place normally associated with Shakespeare and half-timbered cottages, in search of porcine pleasures among its leafy lanes. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust has its headquarters here and it looks after the interests of several old breeds of pig.

Helen begins with a traditional English cooked breakfast at Susan Sabin's B'n'B at Church Hill Farm at Lighthorne. She's famed for her breakfasts and it's important to her that the pigs are local and that the meat is top quality. Susan's husband used to be a pig farmer, but he now has a fish farm, breeding koi carp.
Church Hill Farm

Helen next meets Mark Holberton in his farm shop at Talton Mill. He runs a successful 28 acre smallholding, which sells all its produce through the shop. As well as his pigs Mark keeps chickens for eggs and the table and grows produce for the shop.
Talton Mill

The pig has been an important source of food worldwide for centuries and this importance means that it often appears in superstition and myth. Near Warwick Castle, Helen meets up with folklorist Paul Sullivan who tells tall tales of pigs past. For example, it was thought that the animal was so amazingly delicious and versatile that it must be from another world - food from the gods. In Welsh legends a boar was usually carved before any significant event. But there's a dark side to pigs and sailors always considered pigs as bad luck and they were never taken on board as a food source. Some sailors would refuse to sail if they saw a pig on the way to a ship. The word pig could not be mentioned on board and if someone had a grudge against someone, they might put a pig's tail in the person's pocket believing this would lead them to be swept overboard.
All about pigs

Popular though the pig has been throughout history, several old breeds are seriously under threat of extinction. At Newbarn Farm, just outside Stratford, Helen meets Mervyn Forster. On his 125 acres Mervyn has rare breeds including cattle, sheep and poultry. He is especially fond of his rare pigs: Tamworths, Middle Whites and British Lops. He thinks the very best pork meat comes from the Middle White pig, while the Tamworth is best for bacon, and sells meat to TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson amongst others. Mervyn says his pigs have very different personalities depending upon their breed. Tamworths are known to be naughty and are real characters. It was Tamworths who a few years ago escaped when their lorry drew up to an abattoir. They were nicknamed the Tamworth Two and a feature film is being made about them. In contrast, the Middle White is a very steady animal and the Lop, with ears that fall over their faces, can't see very well and are thus more cautious creatures.
Rare Breeds Survival Trust