Lizzie Dyer

Food & Drink

As we head down the farm track to meet Lizzie Dyer of Just Kidding, we catch sight of a field full of goats. They hear the engine and start to trot over to check out who’s arrived. Lizzie is busy milking the younger kid goats in the shed; we head in, and just like the goats in the field, they start to head over and we are met with a crescendo of kids bleating a hello. Lizzie smiles and says, “Kids are so mischievous and very inquisitive, they love playing and getting into trouble.” 

Lizzie was brought up on a traditional mixed farm in Somerset. They had cattle for milking, beef, sheep and free range hens, so farming has always been part of her life. Now in her late twenties, this is her first farming business. She says, “I actually wrote the business plan for Just Kidding while I was studying a degree at the Royal Agricultural College, Gloucestershire.” She’d always been interested in British farming and while travelling in India and eating lots of goat meat, the seed was planted. When she returned to England and spoke to a number of chefs, she found the only kid meat being used was imported from France; there was no consistency or any commercial businesses in the UK.