River Cottage

I think I have a solid claim to be the owner and creator of the weirdest air drying frame in the UK. I use it to dry chorizo and salami rather than ham, but I don't see why the principle wouldn't work:

The main compartment of the drier is one of those flexible fabric clothes baskets which can be picked-up for under a tenner at any household shop. They are essentially made of a fine netting, which is held in a rectangular shape by bendy plastic in the seams of the fabric. I have used a very lo-tech system of string and ductape to attach sturdy wooden coathangers on two of the opposing sides of the square opening at the top, and - with a similarly complex 'string-and-tape' based fastening solution - have attached 3 lengths of dowel that link the coathangers 'cross-bars' and provide the 'rack' on which I hang my sausages, and a further length of dowel that links the two hangers just below the metal hook (these just make the structure a bit more sturdy). As for the water-proofing, my solution is similarly lo-tech: tinfoil!! One 'side' of the lid is heavily foiled, as it never moves. The other is attached to the 'crossbar' that links the top of the two coathangers, but then just taped-on to the basket at the bottom so that it can be lifted like a hinged lid to access the sausages. I then hang the whole contraption from a bike rack on my balcony, and it works an absolute treat! I'm sure with just a little innovation a similar invention could be hung from a tree.

The benefits of this bodge-it solution are:

- It costs next to nothing to make
- It's very airey - the wind goes right through the netting
- It's virtually waterproof - the sausages hang down from the covered top, so only the most slanted of slanting rain could stand a chance of brushing their bottoms
- It's animal proof - hangs off the ground to keep out crawling critters and the netting takes care of our flying foes

Downsides:
- It looks terrible (my pride in my invention overcomes this, but my mrs doesn't love the thing: the aforementioned clothes baskets only come in garish colours - mine is lime green!)
- It's non-too-sturdy. I hang it outdoors, but in a fairly sheltered place. If exposed to some battering elements, my foil and string artistry might come unstuck! Also, I'm unsure as to whether dowel and coathangers could take the weight of a whole ham...probably not. You could easily use the same principles, though, and knock something up out of sturdier wood

Hope some of that helps

You don't have anywhere indoors...?

Thanks Ozzi I was thinking along those lines but I didn't think of the louvres they will be perfect B&Q here I come, thanks again you're a star.

I would think something like the old meat safe would be the go, but with louvres added to the sides.

They are basically a small cupboard (design once to the appropriate size). The sides of them are covered in flywire to avoid insects getting in. Similarly the door and back. the top and bottom are usually solid, but the base can also be wired over.

If you were to add louvers over each of the wired surfaces that would significantly reduce any rain intrusion while allowing 360 degree air circulation.

You can hang the ham from a hook in the middle of the roof of the thing, and the thing itself would hang from a hook to the rafter or branch of choice. Very popular back in the pioneering days when there were no fridges, and plenty of ants and flies ...