A Decade of The Real Cure
This September The Real Cure celebrates its 10th anniversary, and we honestly can’t believe how the time has flown by. From humble beginnings in James’ father’s workshop on the family dairy farm, fast forward a decade and The Real Cure is proud to be one of the UK’s leading independent charcuterie producers, picking up 15 Great Taste Awards along the way. Read on to find out how it all began…
Since making the move back to Dorset from the Big Smoke in 2014, James and Lucy have grown The Real Cure from a single workshop and team of two, to a 12 strong team of passionate foodies with one mission – to make the very best charcuterie using the tastiest and most sustainable ingredients around.
We thought this major milestone was the perfect time to share a little more about our story, where and why it began, some anecdotes from along the way as well as some of our plans for the future too…
So who are we?
After meeting at university and enjoying a few years working in ski resorts in Austria and Switzerland, James and Lucy were in their early twenties and living with friends in a Camberwell flat in South East London. Lucy started out London life in a PR agency working on food and drink brands like Bottlegreen, Magimix and Burts Chips and naturally James found the most rural job he could – working at the iconic shooting and fishing shop, Farlows in Pall Mall. It’s safe to say city life wasn’t quite for them however and they enjoyed weekends escaping to the rolling hills of Dorset where James grew up.
Having spent several months conducting ecological surveys on deer in the Scottish Highlands in 2011, James had developed a passion for venison and began experimenting with curing using a double door fridge in the small garden of their Camberwell flat. This sparked the idea that perhaps the charcuterie could be more than just a hobby and he began thinking of ways to diversify the family farm back in Dorset, as city life wasn’t quite what they wanted.
After a rudimentary renovation of James’ father’s workshop on the farm, they set to work with a tiny smoker (literally a repurposed garden shed) tabletop sausage stuffer, converted double door fridge and plenty of trial and error! Weekends were spent on the South West Rail train to Gillingham in Dorset and when they weren’t making salami, they were selling it at local farmers markets and Country Shows come rain or shine (but more often the former!).
The old cattle buildings on James’ parent’s farm meant there was genuine scope to diversify the farm (previously dairy) and potentially start seriously producing charcuterie on a small scale.
Fast forward a year, after plenty of research and development, and we were ready to start making enough cured meat to stock our first few stores – the first of this was Goldhill Organic Farm Shop in nearby Child Okeford. We’re forever grateful they took a chance on us, and fortunately more farm shops followed suit.
Our ethos for sustainability has never wavered even as we expanded the range from wild venison into pork and beef. It was imperative to us that we only use free-range, sustainably reared and wild meat. We were also keen to showcase Dorset’s best producers in our products, like Dorset Blue Vinny Cheese and Purbeck Cider. We are constantly evolving our packaging, which has been quite a journey in itself, we are now proudly able to offer a fully recyclable range of shelf ready products. We thank you all for the amazing feedback we have received about it, we are delighted it has been so well received.
Since 2014, our family has grown with the addition of Tabitha, 3, and Fred, 8 months, and not forgetting Betty, our beloved Springer cross Labrador. Tabitha fortunately has a passion for charcuterie are regularly asks to visit ‘the lami shop’ aka the stock room, to pick up a few packs of her favourites (Wild Venison Beersticks and Coppa if you were wondering). Betty is of course delighted with our choice of career and subsequent life as a ‘butcher’s dog’. She can usually be found sitting next to the production room door hoping for offcuts and titbits or greeting the delivery drivers for her daily tummy rubs.
Flash forward to 2024 and you can now find us in lots of small independent shops and delis, including The Newt, Darts Farm and Fortnum & Mason, as well as pubs, restaurants and online. We’ve teamed up with one of our customers, Pythouse Kitchen Garden in Tisbury, for a special competition, offering dinner and an overnight stay in their shepherd's hut plus two spaces on our renowned charcuterie course the following day, where you’ll be greeted with breakfast and a day of teachings and knowledge (by James himself) to give you the skills to make your own delicious charcuterie at home.
We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have built a fantastic network of suppliers and producers along the way. Of course nothing would be possible without our team of 12, from picking and packing to production and customer service, we really are lucky to work with such an incredible bunch of passionate people.
So, what’s next .. solar? New products? We will be sure to keep you up to date. Thank you for the last 10 years, and here’s to 10 more.
Shop best seller
Stock your cupboard, ready to make this recipe. You can rest assured that we only use British free range pork, wild venison and grass fed beef in all of our great British charcuterie products. We believe our sustainable sourcing and traditional preserving methods make the best tasting charcuterie in the UK.
More about Us
About The Real Cure
We are an artisanal charcuterie producer based in Dorset, delivering our British charcuterie to your doorstep. We also run charcuterie courses and provide our award-winning charcuterie to trade suppliers including delis, farmshops, pubs and restaurants.