THIS LIFE: ANJA BAAK

Gardening, baking, dressmaking, wild swimming and running a successful Highland charcuterie business: it's all in a day's work for this resourceful Dutchwoman

- Catherine Coyle

Sustainability. Slow living. Eco credentials. When Anja Baak and her husband Jan Jacob set up their charcuterie business in 2003, these were not the buzzwords they are today. But a move from the Netherlands to rural Scotland – Spean Bridge, to be precise - opened their eyes and showed them their true calling. "We'd been looking to move out of the city, so when Jan Jacob was offered a job as an estate manager in the Highlands, it felt like the opportunity had come at the right time,” recalls Anja. This was in 2000; they packed up their lives, said goodbye to their friends and set off with their three young daughters to begin a new chapter.

“Part of Jan Jacob's job was the management of deer on the land,” Anja continues. "Venison was not so widely eaten back then, and he wanted to find ways to add value and preserve the life of the product.” Jan Jacob had begun experimenting with the Dutch tradition of curing meats, just as a hobby at first then a lot more seriously as he hit on a successful balance of flavours, textures and techniques. Great Glen Charcuterie was born, quickly winning numerous awards for its products and the enterprising couple behind it.

Such success had felt unlikely at the start. “We spoke to a Dutch butcher friend of ours about the idea and he wasn't sure we'd be able to make a venison salami, for instance, especially in the ‘pure' form that we wanted to," says Anja. “But, Jan Jacob was determined, and we were one of the first in the UK to do it.”