Electronics expert engineers a switch to embrace rural life

DECADES of international travel combined with a curiosity of food production has resulted in a new venture on Teesdale’s doorstep

Former electronics engineer Malcolm Tennant and his wife Bernadette have opened a new farm shop at Ravensworth after embracing rural life.

Four years ago, Mr Tennant bought an empty plot of 80 acres close to Ravensworth and created Stoneygate Farm.

For the previous 20 years he owned his own company providing services to the oil and gas industry. He sold the business to take up farming.

Mr Tennant said: “In all the international travel I did, I was quite into food and was interested in how it lived and how it was managed.

“The idea was we wanted to be self-sufficient and sustainable but we couldn’t get the sales volume of selling meat direct from the farm to make the farm viable.

“We realised we needed a retail unit to make it sustainable.”

Construction of the new farm shop was started late last year and it opened to customers earlier this year.

All of the lamb, pork and beef sold at the shop has been raised on the farm.

The animals include beef Shorthorn cattle, rare-breed Tamworth pigs and Mule sheep put to a Beltex tup to produce fat lambs.

He specifically allows his animals to age longer than most farmers with the lambs going to hogget or mutton age, cattle to 30 months or more and pigs to nine months or older.

The 52-year-old said: “The taste is far superior in my opinion.”

Allowing the animals to grow more adds both flavour and marbling, he added.


The animals are taken to a nearby abattoir for slaughter before being returned to the farm where they are hung before further processing. Prime beef cuts are hung for 30 days, or sometimes longer, in a specialist cabinet.
The farmer does his own butchering, having learned the skill through a course at the School of Artisan Food.
Mr Tennant said: “It is quite satisfying to see an animal you raised at all stages in the food chain.”
An interesting addition to the items sold at the shop is the charcuterie on offer, which the farmer learned how to make from visiting Tuscan artisans in Italy.
Mr Tennant said: “Having a range of charcuterie made in North Yorkshire is quite unique. The initial feedback has been quite good. ”
Unfortunately, because of the time involved in producing the salami and other cured meats, the new farmshop owner worries that he will be unable to keep up with demand with the limited amount he is able to produce at this stage.
Happily for shoppers however, there is a lot more local produce to choose from if the salami is out of stock, including free range eggs from Stoneygate Farm as well as other farms in the area.
Various preserves and jams made locally are on sale along with gift boxes and other goodies.