The Humble Pie Company produce handmade artisan pies direct from Somerset

To enjoy the meaning of this sentence and to fully appreciate all it entails, you need have to have a great pie and a cracking pint.

I am sure you all have your favourite pint which would go well with a pie but on the pie front I can tell you all about a great pie which would go perfectly with your pint.

A quote I found about pies was this by George Sarton in the book “The Teaching of the History of Science” in 1918, which said: “The chief requisite for the making of a good chicken pie is chicken; no amount of culinary legerdemain can make up for the lack of chicken. In the same way, the chief requisite for the history of science is intimate scientific knowledge; no amount of philosophic legerdemain can make up for its absence.”

One Somerset butcher who runs a family company based in Ashcott has helped create a pie which Sarton would approve as it is is bursting with flavour and chock full of meat.

The business in question is F Griffiths and Son Butchers, The Cedars, Bath Road, Ashcott who have been based at this site since 1953.

Fred and Molly Griffiths started their business selling meat from the back of a mobile butchers van in the year Queen Elizabeth II had her Coronation.

By the 1970s the firm were supplying pubs and restaurants with the meat they needed and still do the same trade in the local area as well as going to Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon and Dorset.

Today the business is run by Mark Griffiths and his nephew Mike, who is the third generation of the family. F Griffiths and Son has grown to the stage where they have three retail shops, in Ashcott, Street and Wells, all selling traditional meat and sausages and then in 2013 they launched The Humble Pie Company.

Mark said: “We decided four years ago we wanted to diversify and start doing a few pies.

“Many other businesses who make pies get their pastry from one person and the gravy mix from somewhere else.

"We do not do that with our pies. We make our own pastry and mix everything ourselves.

"Our recipe for our pastry comes from a retired baker and it was a recipe given to him when he was at college.

“It is a very old short pastry recipe and people like it a lot. We use all our own meat mixes and leave it cooking slowly overnight in its juices.

"We pull our meat and do not cut it into cubes. By pulling it, it makes sure there is more meat in each pie.

“Our pies are all artisan as they hand made from start to finish. When we started in 2013, we had no idea how good they were.

"People were saying they were good but we wanted an independent opinion.

"So we entered the British Pie Awards six weeks after we first started.

“We entered four or five classes. We took the pies up to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire on the Tuesday and then came home.

"I ticked the box I would like to attend the award luncheon but never ever thought I would attend.

"Then on the Wednesday evening I had a phone call from the organisers telling me we were in the top three for our Pork, cider and fennel pie.

“So the two of us, me and the lady who cooks the pies, Pauline Bowyer went to the awards and our pie came first.”

Mark was told in the judges feed back, they loved the pastry and they felt the fact the meat had been pulled made sure there was lots of meat and it tasted unique.

Mark added: “I think what makes them taste better than other pies is they are made in small batches.

"Our pies are very labour intensive as they are hand made. The only machine we use is the pie press.

"We sell our pies at farmers markets, at agricultural shows like the Bath & West show, food festivals, we have been at Bath Christmas market and we sell on line at humble-pies.co.uk You can buy a box of six or 12 pies.”

You need to order your pies online by noon on Tuesday as all pies are made freshly on Wednesday and then dispatched by 24 hour courier to be with you on Friday.

Each pie can be the same or you can choose from a list and have a selection of different pies.

The choice includes: - Pulled beef and Stilton; Pork, Ashton press cider and Fennel; Roast chicken, smoked bacon and leek; Roasted vegetables goats cheese and walnut (Vegan includes vegan made pastry); Slow braised steak and Butcombe Gold and Steak and kidney. Guinness and Black Pudding The company also does once in a while have Guest Pie Flavours.

Mark said: “We are looking at continuing our growth and do not feel at this stage we want to get involved with a national retailer who would sell our pies.

"We want to keep it local as well as sell through the internet. The reason for this is if we had to produce higher volumes we would lose the hand made artisan production.

"We are all about service (personal) and this is something you cannot get in a supermarket.”

The Humble Pie Company which has won awards at the British Pie Awards and at Taste of the West, employs three staff, one full time and two part time.

The family business which started with two people now employs 32, has three retail shops and provides meat to the pub and restaurant trade.