A NEWPORT family who make 1,000 pies by hand per week are expecting a flurry of orders after their business gained national recognition for the second year running.

Business at Elm Tree Foods trebled when it won at the British Pie Awards in 2011.

One year on and its owner, Collette Crewe, her mother, Cheryll, and partner, Steve Bridges, are churning out as many hand-made pies as they can per week.

The business, based at Elm Tree Farm, Goldcliff, was just a month old when it won accolades in last year’s competition, and this year, at the home of pies, it picked up five awards at Melton Mowbray.

The Crewe family were presented with gold awards for their individual pork pie, boozy beef and butternut scrunchie pies, a silver award for their celebration cold meat slicing pie, which is Olympic-themed, and a bronze for their minty mutton pie on April 25.

The pies underwent a stringent judging process by 93 food experts and celebrity chefs led by Andrew Chisholm, Rachel Green and Phil Vickery.

Ms Crewe started the business as she saw a gap in the market for top-quality pies.

She said: “It is such a traditional dish but we thought there were a lot of pies out there which could have been made better.”

Six months ago the business won approval to supply Newport council-run premises and its pies are eaten by visitors to The Riverfront café.

Customers at the Welsh Oak, Rogerstone, are also able to sample its products.

Ms Crewe said: “The growth has been phenomenal.

Our kitchen is small and cosy but we manage to make a lot of pies.”The family now plan to create a special threetier wedding pie.