Not anything foraged in this recipe but at a time of year when there is plenty of wild meat around this pie is a great way to use up any excess.

For the Pastry

200g/7oz plain flour

40g/1½oz strong white flour

50g/1¾oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes

100ml/3½fl oz water

1 tsp salt

60g/2¼oz lard

For the filling

500g Mixed game (I used pheasant, partridge, rabbit)                                                  

200g Fatty Belly pork                                                                                                            

1 clove of Garlic  crushed                                                                                                                 

1 heaped teaspoon of Thyme leaves               

1 desert spoon Crabapple jelly   ( you could use redcurrant or rowan jelly)                 Salt and pepper   

One beaten egg for egg washing and sealing.                                                                                                                        

Chop the game into small pieces about 5mm square and put into a large bowl.  Take the skin off the belly pork and discard, then chop the remaining meat and fat finely as for the game. Add the chopped belly pork to the bowl along with the Thyme, crushed garlic and crabapple jelly. Season with Salt and plenty of black Pepper.

Mix this up very well, cover and leave to one side whilst you make the pastry.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin.

To make the pastry, sift the flours into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Bring the water and salt to a boil then add the lard and stir until the lard has melted.

Pour the lard and water over the flour mixture and stir to form a dough. Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and work into a smooth ball (you must work quickly or the dough will become too firm to handle).

Take three quarters of the pastry and press into the loaf tin. Keep pressing and moulding it up the sides of the tin until covers the whole of the inside of the tin in a thin even layer.

Now take your game mix and put it a bit at a time into the lined tin until it is full with no gaps (don’t press too hard or you will damage your pastry!) .

Now roll out the remaining quarter of pastry to make the lid. Egg wash the edge of the pie and place on the lid. Crimp the edges to seal. Now make two holes in the lid    (about 7mm in diameter) and egg wash the whole top of the pie.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes, checking it regularly for the last 10 minutes to make sure the pastry is not burning.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.