A village butchers has scooped a hat-trick of awards after going back to basics with its bacon.

Richard Clark and dad Tony got fed-up with boring bacon and decided to start curing and smoking their own two years ago.

Now they've perfected the technique - and started to wow industry judges.

"It's all done the traditional way, and cured and smoked on the premises," said Richard, of Evans and Son, in Dedham High Street.

"We just got fed-up with mass-produced bacon and decided to do our own, and go back to our roots. All the salt is rubbed in by hand and there is no water added or anything."

It takes about three weeks to cure the locally produced pork, which comes from Clacton and Braintree. The bacon then goes into the iron smokehouse for up to eight hours to gain its distinctive flavour.

British Pig Executive judges raved about the rashers at a produce show in East Sussex last week, giving them three gold awards.