These days it seems like everyone’s twittering about Twitter, and in this new weekly column we delve behind the stories of some of our favourite Shropshire tweeters to find out more about them.

Every so often, we like to take a closer look at twitterers who are making a significant difference to our local community or environment, and this week it’s @pigsincloveruk.

Pigs in Clover is a rare breeds pig farm in Cardeston, near Shrewsbury, run by estate agent Gwen Howell and her husband Steve.

The couple decided to diversify whilst their estate agency business H2H was experiencing the nationwide market slump at the beginning of the year, and planned to buy a few pigs to occupy some of their spare land.

When they arrived to collect three Saddlebacks and realised there were ten for sale, Gwen and Steve bought all of them.

“They were in a concrete bunker when we got them,” says Gwen. “So we set them up on our farm in sturdy wooden pens with no electric wires and plenty of space, so that people could come along and see them.

“I think it’s good for children to be able to see where food comes from, and provenance is becoming much more important, although it’s still surprising how few pubs and restaurants could tell you where their produce comes from.”

The couple now have 58 pigs in a variety of breeds, and each are outdoor reared and bred in comfortable, natural surroundings.

The farm are already producing a very popular range of succulent, flavoursome meats including sausages, ham, pork and bacon, which can be delivered within a ten mile radius of Shrewsbury or nationwide by specialist carriers.

And in the six months since they’ve been running the pig farm, Gwen and Steve have become passionate about preserving the numbers of rare breeds.

“The British Lop Sow is close to extinction,” explains Gwen. “There are only 200 left in the country. We have three British Lop’s and they’ve just had three litters, which we’re delighted with.

“The only way to maintain these breeds is for people to eat them and make them financially viable, because no one is going to keep pigs in a zoo or as a pet.

“We want to encourage people to think about the type of meat they’re eating. Of course, outdoor reared pigs have a wonderful flavour but each different breed has a very distinctive taste.”

Gwen says that they have to be careful not to become emotionally attached to the pigs.

“It is tricky,” she confesses. “Most of the pigs are here for breeding until they’re 20 and we’ve given them all names, but we don’t name the ones that are here for meat.

“The small abbortoir we use in Wrexham are very good and very quick. The pigs will never know what’s happening as they have no sense of anticipation, unless they’re put in a stressful situation, but we make sure they’re happy and comfortable at all times.”

Gwen says she’d like to have around 50 breeding sows which would mean they’d have a steady supply of meat. Currently, their produce sells out very quickly.

“We’re also very interested in working with good restaurants who are interested in putting named pork on their menu.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from London restaurants, which is fantastic, but then you’ve got the transport issue and ‘food miles’, so ideally we’d like to work with local restaurants.”

By Lara Page