50 people gathered recently to celebrate the opening of the brand new Assynt Community Deer Larder at Glencanisp Lodge, including Caithness & Sutherland MSP Maree Todd.
We were approached by the John Muir Trust, who in association with the CALLP (Coigach-Assynt Living Landscape Partnership) & funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, wanted to us to create a state-of-the-art Larder to replace their 100 year old existing one.
Their vision was to have a small processing facility to allow for ‘home butchering’ by suitably accredited members of the local community, with the option of extending it in the future to expand into commercial processing, which would help reduce food miles & contribute to carbon savings.
Our solution was to design & build them a 6.5mtr x 3.2mtr Larder, which has a processing & prep room, a chiller, & a Tonon rail system running throughout for ease of carcass movement & reduced manual handling. All electrics, plumbing, drainage, hose reel, handwash & equipment sink were fitted prior to delivery. Additional extras, such as tables, cupboards, cleaning equipment, key safe & PIR external lighting, were also included, at the request of JM Trust, to allow for the Larder to be fully operational for the community shortly after delivery.
It also had a dual entrance, allowing for a separate ingress to the processing room & chiller, ideal for product flow, multiple people using the facility at the same time & collections by the game dealer.
( Photos courtesy of Chris Puddephatt )