Dorset

At Denhay Farm, Amanda and George Streatfeild dry-cure bacon so successfully that they were asked to do the cure for Duchy Originals organic bacon. Their air-dried ham is cured in West Country Bramley apple juice, local honey, salts and herbs, then lightly smoked over beechwood and air-dried for around a year (£10 for 230g). They are also renowned for their West Country Farmhouse Dorset Drum Cheddar, made with milk from their five herds of cows. (01308 458963; www.denhay.co.uk).

Lincolnshire

Stuart Stables of Grasmere Farm in Deeping St James, Lincolnshire, is one of a committed bunch of producers who cling to the traditional method of dry-curing ham and bacon. (Industrial fast-curing methods in which the hams are injected with brine means that when you cook the whole hams they shrink dramatically, or in the case of bacon, leach out the excess liquid into a white puddle in the pan). Stables’ family also rear all their own pigs, which are fed on meal milled in their own water mill. As well as the hams and bacon, you can order sausages (including the famous Rutland sausage), fruity stuffings and every cut of pork. A whole, unsmoked, uncooked bone-in ham (minimum weight 8.6kg) is £45.95, online, or check the website for details of farmers' markets (01778 342344; www.grasmere-farm.co.uk).

Cumbria

Richard Woodall’s family are now into their seventh and eighth generation of curing pigs to traditional methods in Waberthwaite, Cumbria. As well as their richly intense Cumberland hams (half, on the bone, £30.90), they offer a lighter country-cured gammon, Cumbria air-dried ham, bacon, pancetta and Waberthwaite Cumberland sausages (01229 717237; www.richardwoodall.co.uk).

Lanarkshire

At Ramsay of Carluke in Lanarkshire they produce their award-winning bacon using the traditional family Ayrshire cure, which they describe as “old-fashioned pickle” that dates back to 1857 (back, £5.88 per 400g). Also hams, sausages and black and white puddings (01555 772277; www.ramsayofcarluke.co.uk). Minimum mail order £50 – or order through Caledonian Connoisseur: (01573 227310; www.caleyco.com).

Carmarthen, Wales

Chris and Ann Rees dry-cure Parma-like Carmarthen Ham in the Welsh farmhouse fashion followed by five generations of their family, air-drying it for up to nine months to produce a rich flavour similar to Parma ham. Chris Rees jokes that the recipe is so old that when the Romans came to Britain they stole it! It is sold thinly sliced (£35 per kilo; sample 100g pack, £4.40). They also produce Welsh ham, which they liken to York ham and bacon (01267 237687; www.carmarthenham.co.uk).

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