Jake Buchan is fusing traditions that date back to Cistercian monks with modern tastes to carve out a niche for himself in the world of food. The Holy Smokery is located at a long-established smokehouse on the Kilnsey Estate in the Yorkshire Dales.

Formerly operated with award-winning success by the Roberts family - who run the estate - the chance came up for a new occupant when the family opted to focus on their other business interests.

Enter Mr Buchan, who spent 18 years living and working in Manchester as a chef but who seized the chance to move across the Pennines when the head of Kilnsey Estate, Jamie Roberts, advertised a year rent-free as an incentive for a newcomer to get started.

“I saw the smokehouse come up for sale and it was exactly the sort of opportunity I have been looking for,” the chef said.

since moving into the premises last May, Mr Buchan, who has settled in Cononley with his partner Michelle and their children, has been producing a range of delicately smoked fish and meat which he sells into local restaurants and direct to the public at a local farm shop and farmers’ markets.

He uses trout caught on the estate and flavours it using various herbs, from minty hyssop leaves to Alexander seeds, foraged from the estate’s grounds.

He has also developed a charcuterie range in collaboration with Ian Smith of Skipton-based online butchery, The Grid Iron Meat Company. This comprises of rare breed lamb and beef which is used to produce smoked delicacies such as pork-based coppa and prosciutto, duck confit, pancetta and herb-fed chicken.

The meat is smoked for 12 hours, the fish for five hours, giving it a distinctive flavour.