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Shooting Stars in Yorkshire and the North East Print E-mail
Monday, 18 August 2008
The Shooting Stars campaign has identified four of many stars in the North East/ Yorkshire area. Here, meet James Burton, a freelance chef, Nick Lister, a factory supervisor for Yorkshire Game dealers, Philip Scott-Priestley, a senior land agent and Craig Barber, a junior gamekeeper on the Whitfield estate in Northumberland and read why they are making a difference.

James Burton James Burton. Age 29. Freelance chef. Vallum Cooking.

James Burton has arguably the best job in the world. But his journey to this job began a long time ago in a tiny hamlet outside of Catterick in North Yorkshire. Having grown up in the countryside he was exposed at an early age to the variety and diversity of culinary products rural England has to offer and the ways of harvesting them, shooting being one such method. He began his shooting career age nine, when he shot his first wild rabbit, and then flirted with the idea of becoming a gamekeeper but realised he had other fish to fry.

The inspiration for James to become a freelance chef came from his mum who is a trained Cordon Bleu cook. After missing out on a gamekeeping course, he decided on an NVQ in catering and hospitality: “It seemed the natural choice because I’ve always been interested in food ever since working my own allotment as a child”. James cut his teeth as a graduate at Corse Lawn hotel in Gloucestershire and Rudding Park in Yorkshire before moving to Sydney to expand his cooking styles working at one of Australia’s finest restaurants. However it was the windswept moors of Yorkshire and crystal waters of Scotland that brought James back to the UK to begin his career as a freelance chef.

James admits he fell into the job after his cousin couldn’t accept a job cooking for a game lodge in Scotland. From this launch pad he has built up a list of connections throughout England and Scotland, travelling around the country to cook for them using the finest game and local ingredients. James loves his job, “I get paid to travel to the most beautiful parts of the UK, fish and shoot and get to cook with ingredients I am passionate about - it doesn’t get much better”. James is spending The Glorious Twelfth on a small estate in Inverness shooting walked-up grouse and cooking up a storm in the evening.

“ For small businesses wading through some of the red tape to be able to set up such a kitchen is very difficult”
Although being a freelance chef is James’s main job he also runs a food production business, Fur and Feather Game, where he prepares and sells game to local restaurants, food fairs and directly to the public in addition to preparing meals for nearby shoot breakfasts and lunches. “The facility saves me time,” James said, “but for small businesses wading through some of the red tape to be able to set up such a kitchen is very difficult. Small businesses don’t have time for constant box-ticking on convoluted forms.” While he appreciates the need for strict environmental health hygiene rules James feels some of EU legislation doesn’t consider how small business works making it difficult to adhere to rules designed primarily for larger operations.

James’s life in rural England is pretty good but then he has concerns about the future. He laments the current housing situation and believes more should be done to provide affordable housing for local people. House prices in the local area mean that only those on urban wages can afford rural properties which James feels is turning more villages into weekend city bolt holes and mid week deserts. But James is determined to stick around because the shooting sector gives him access to some of the finest wild ingredients and places from which he draws inspiration to create his epicurean delights.

For more information on James Burton go to http://www.vallumcooking.co.uk/


Nick Lister Nick Lister, age 29, a factory supervisor for Yorkshire Game dealers

Nick got interested in game preparation and dealing from an early age through his father’s small scale game dealing business in Weatherby. Having lived in the area all his life, working on his dad’s farm and helping his grandfather with veterinary duties, Nick is passionate about the rural way of life. If Nick’s not working then he’s fine tuning his shooting skills helping local farmers with pest control, which seems to benefit all parties. “At £1 a piece for a head-shot rabbit it’s a good supplementary income in addition to helping out local farmers,” he said.

After finishing his A-levels Nick embarked on a gap-year but rather than whizzing off to far flung lands he stayed closer to home. “I decided to stay in the area because I saw an opportunity with Yorkshire Game to learn more about game dealing in a bigger company”. In fact Nick enjoyed his gap year so much he decided not to go to University but develop his skills within the business. Having been at Yorkshire Game for five years, starting at the bottom and working his way up to become factory supervisor, he still gets the same job satisfaction today as he did when he plucked his first grouse, “I still find it so rewarding to prepare the goods of shooting for the table which are enjoyed by so many”.

Yorkshire Game is located on the A1 between the North Yorkshire Moors and the Yorkshire Dales. The start of the game season, particularly The Glorious Twelfth, heralds the busiest time of the year for Nick, “The first day is madness; it’s so exciting when the grouse come in but then the hard work starts. The demand for grouse is huge, locally, nationally and internationally and the value of the birds depends on their age and supply and demand, with the price of young birds highest in a poor year. We supply game across the UK and Europe with old birds being exported to Scandinavian countries and most young birds being snapped up by 90 of London’s top chefs.” Yorkshire Game processed 60,000 grouse last year and odds on, according to local knowledge; this year is going to be a bumper one.

“ It’s so exciting when the grouse come in but then the hard work starts”
So just what is it about grouse that make it a prized meat among epicureans? “It is a truly wild British meat,” Nick said. “You can’t manufacture grouse, it’s pure and natural and you can’t get anymore exotic than that.” Nick admits it’s his favourite meat and still finds it very exciting to take home a young grouse and gently roast it with nothing more than salt, pepper and some bread sauce to accompany it. However venison is a close second, with haunch of sika deer being the choice cut for Nick. The business receives game from estates across north Yorkshire, Northumberland and Scotland and employs 30 full time staff and takes on extra local labour during the game season when the factory operates 24 hours a day.

Nick is certainly not scared of hard work, but finds some of the challenges he faces as a young person living in the countryside difficult - particularly finding affordable housing. Given that mortgage repayments would claim all his monthly earnings he’s decided to continue living at home. While the housing situation disheartens Nick a little he says he’d never move out the area, “I could never live in a town or city - I’d miss the peace. Also, l love the sense of community, everyone is here to lend a hand when you need it - you’d never get that in a town, which is why I choose to stay”.

For more information on Yorkshire Game go to http://www.yorkshiregame.co.uk/

Philip Scott Priestley Philip Scott-Priestley. 30. Senior land agent.

For many, managing a small allotment is a challenge, so consider Philip who manages shooting estates numbering thousands of acres in size. Land management is in Philip’s blood, having grown up on a farm in North Yorkshire. He realised from an early age the satisfaction of working with the land and harvesting the benefits from it in the form of, amongst other things, shooting. Involved as a child in a local farm shoot syndicate and witnessing his father’s struggle to make a living through farming he decided on a career which combined his passion for land management, shooting and the rural way of life - surveying and land agency.

Philip stumbled across the career of surveying when doing his A-levels but had very clear criteria in mind, “I knew there was no money in farming but I wanted a career based in the countryside so surveying was the perfect choice”. He studied at Harper Adams College in Shropshire where he did a sandwich course allowing him to gain practical experience for a year at Savills in Norwich. His qualification has taken him throughout the UK where he has managed shooting estates in the Chilterns, the Peak District, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland, but being close to home is important for Philip, which is why he took up a position with Grays chartered surveyors in North Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland.

Philip seems remarkably cool for a man who has to respond to anything from a minor property repair to a planning application on any of the estates he manages. He thinks success is dependent on him being a jack of all trades. “No two days are the same, and you need broad knowledge across law, planning, tax land management and subsidy schemes.” However, even he admits the start of the shooting season challenges him, where in addition to the usual work load he is heavily involved in running shoot days, organising accommodation and transport and ensuring the guests have a good time.

“ I find it so satisfying to see an estate develop and thrive over time and it’s always a bonus when someone thanks you for a great shooting experience”
However The Glorious Twelfth this year is about Philip enjoying the shooting because he has a day of walked-up grouse shooting to look forward to. The beginning of the shooting season is an exciting but nerve-wracking time because it’s the culmination of hard work by all those involved on the estates with expectations of great shooting days from the guests. But for Philip it’s all worth it because being out in the field is the best part of the job, “I find it so satisfying to see an estate develop and thrive over time and it’s always a bonus when someone thanks you for a great shooting experience”. For local businesses and people it’s also a time of anticipation because it heralds new employment opportunities and revenue streams.

Shooting participants spend around £60 million pounds on accommodation in the UK and the industry supports 4,400 and 3,000 jobs in Yorkshire and the North East respectively. Philip’s estates recruit locally for beaters and estate maintenance staff in addition to using local garages to service estate vehicles and he believes, “Shooting is important for keeping the community together because without it the local pub and hotel might not be viable”. While Philip loves rural life he understands why his peers moved from the countryside. He believes young people in rural areas need better public transport, more exposure to rural industries such as shooting and affordable housing to encourage them to stay. However Philip is only too willing to face these challenges.


Craig Barber Craig Barber. Age 23. Junior gamekeeper. Whitfield estate Northumberland

For Craig Barber early starts, long hours and frequent poor weather are all part of the job, one which he wouldn’t swap for the world. Having grown up in the village of Four Stones just outside of Hexham, Craig was exposed to farming and country sports from an early age through his father and wanted to remain and work in the local area. His first career choice would have been in hunt service but with uncertainty surrounding hunting at the time, he went to Newcastle to complete an apprenticeship in woodwork and joinery.

But for Craig something was missing. He pined to be back in the countryside and it was
his involvement in shooting that got him the job of junior gamekeeper on the Whitfield estate. “I heard about the job when I came back from Newcastle to work as a beater on a neighbouring estate”. He began his new job in 2007 and has never been more busy or happier in his life. “It’s a labour of love providing and maintaining habitat suitable for game birds and other rare bird species and I don’t feel that is always recognised or appreciated.”

It’s not a job for nine-to-fiver. “At the busiest time of the year I’m up at 5am and get settled for the evening at about 8pm.” The Whitfield estate is huge – 15,000 acres of woodlands and grouse moors. It employs four other gamekeepers in addition to Craig and contains one of the most prestigious grouse moors in the country. In the height of the game season the estate’s size allows shooting six days a week, with grouse, partridge and pheasant being sent into the food chain, through game dealers such as Yorkshire Game.

“ It’s a labour of love providing and maintaining habitat suitable for game birds and other rare bird species and I don’t feel that is always recognised or appreciated”
Last year the moor produced 250 brace of grouse on the first day. This is a real testament to the hard work of all the keepers. “The red grouse is a truly wild bird and like all wild animals the population is determined by the ability of the bird to breed successfully. That success is dependent on a range of factors such as condition of stock, habitat, predation, parasite levels and, of course, weather. Some of these factors the keepers work tirelessly to control for the benefit of the grouse but others are in the lap of the gods.” But for Craig halcyon grouse days make the relentless effort and the uncertainty of success worth it. “You never want to get your hopes up on August 12th [opening day of shooting season] but when someone thanks you for a good day the feeling of achievement is amazing.”

With the Whitfield estate shooting regularly through the game season Craig believes shooting brings in essential revenue for local businesses and acts as community glue during the winter months. The Elk’s Head pub in Whitfield is one local venue thriving from shooting business and is building ten new rooms to cater for accommodation requests. In addition, during the season the estate employs an extra 25 people from the local area for six months. Although Craig has a successful career in the countryside he understands why his peers live and work in Hexham and Newcastle, “there are more jobs there and unlike me who gets a house as part of the job, they need urban wages if they want to buy a house here”. Yet the future is bright for Craig, the season has started and he continues to work in a sector that allows him live and work where his heart is - rural Northumberland.
For further information on the Whitfield estate, call Nigel on 017683 51593
 

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