Blagdon Farm Shop Team Strikes Gold at National Awards
22/4/26
Blagdon Farm Shop Butchers awarded 4 gold award/s in prestigious craft
butchery honours
Butchery Manager, Nicky Brown and Michelle Slater, Bakehouse Manager are proud to announce they have picked up 4 Gold Awards in the prestigious ‘Butchers Oscars’, the Smithfield Awards. The winning products are their Beef Mince and Onion Pie, Free Range Egg and Bacon Pie, Homemade Sausage Roll and Old English Pork Sausage. All the meat used in the Bakehouse to make pies and ready meals is sourced in house from the Blagdon Butchers counter.
Blagdon Farm Shop butchers was established in 2002 by Jo Celerier and Farm Manager Andrew Crewdson to source a wide range of niche meat and vegetables from Blagdon Farm and to produce a range of homemade pies and ready meals as well as stocking a full butchers counter. Today the Butchery and Bakehouse team is 10 strong with over 240 years of experience to draw on.
The accolades were announced as part of the 2026 Smithfield Awards, organised by the Q Guild of Butchers, which celebrate excellence in craft butchery and product innovation across the UK.
More than 200 products were put forward by butchers from up and down the UK for evaluation in what is widely regarded as the benchmark for quality in British craft butchery, recognising exceptional meat products across eleven categories including Home-Cured Bacon, Best Burger, Cold Eating Pie, Best Butcher’s Steak, Hot Eating Pie, Traditional Pork Sausage and Speciality Game.
Nicky and Michelle are now off to London to see if their Beef Mince and Onion Pie will pick up the coveted Diamond Award, presented to the best of the best in each of the eleven categories.
A cook-off, selected from a shortlist of the Diamond Award winners, on the day of the awards in London and judged by an esteemed panel of judges will also see one UK butcher crowned supreme champion and awarded the prestigious Smithfield Platinum Award.
Entries for the 2026 awards were judged during an evaluation session held at City of Glasgow College, where a judging panel of industry experts, food writers and culinary professionals, headed up by Dr Jonathan Wilkin, a leading academic in food innovation, assessed each product using a rigorous points-based scoring system. Products achieving the highest scores were awarded Bronze, Silver or Gold.
The overall winners will be revealed at the official Smithfield Awards ceremony at Butchers’ Hall in London on Wednesday 22 April where leading figures from across the meat sector will gather to celebrate excellence within the trade.
As part of the event, the Guild will also present the Q Guild Young Butcher of the Year Award, recognising the talent and dedication of butchers aged under 24 who represent the future of the industry.
Gordon Wallace, Q Guild Manager, said: “The Smithfield Awards showcase the very best of British craft butchery, celebrating the passion, skill and innovation of our members. With more than 200 products entered this year, the judging process was extremely competitive. Achieving a Gold award is a remarkable accomplishment and we congratulate Nicky and Michelle on their success and wish them the best of luck as the awards reach their final stage in London.”
Nicky from Blagdon Farm Shop Butchers said: “We’re incredibly proud to receive 4 Gold awards from the Q Guild of Butchers. It’s fantastic recognition for the hard work and dedication of our team and the quality of the products we produce every day. Michelle from Blagdon Farm Shop Bakehouse said "To be competing alongside some of the best craft butchers in the country is a real honour and we’re excited to find out if our products will be crowned the best in the UK in London today."