Fairlight Secan low gear options

1x is alright and I use it on my CX bike due to all the mud, however it's nothing amazing.
Why have you written it off? I personally still much prefer a 2x set up on the road. 

I have a 1x set-up, 38T oval chainring with a SRAM 10-42T cassette, on my go anywhere bike & it works extremely well on & off road (switching between two wheelsets, one with 28mm slicks, the other with 40mm gravel tyres). I can just about keep up with the club run on the road & just about thrash my way up some fierce hills off road. When I first built the bike I fitted an 11-40T cassette & that didn't quite cut it at either end of the range. I built the bike several years ago & at the time SRAM was the only way to get a better range in a 1x. However the XD-driver option is expensive, as are SRAM cassettes, & if I was building the same bike now I'd probably go with a GRX long cage mech + one of the 11-46'ish cassettes from Shimano or Sunrace.

https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/products/110-bcd-asymmetric-4-bolt-f...

Wolftooth makes compatible chainrings but they only go as low as 38 tooth.

You can go low by reducing chainring or increasing cassette to 11-46 or Hope 10-48

The only option is a double chainring- but you've dismissed that idea currently