For sale: mutton pies, mutton

Until the 1960s mutton was Britain's staple meat. Then an influx of cheaper frozen lamb from Australia and New Zealand displaced mutton, which virtually disappeared from our shops.

Lamb is delicious, but if you prefer a stronger tasting meat, at its best after slow-cooking, mutton beats it hands down.

A 19th century writer and traveller, George Borrow, extolled the virtues of Welsh mutton:

"For dinner we had salmon and leg of mutton; the salmon from the Dee, the leg from the neighbouring Berwyn...As for the leg of mutton it is truly wonderful; nothing so good had I ever tasted in the shape of a leg of mutton. The leg of mutton of Wales beats the leg of mutton of any other country, and I had never tasted a Welsh leg of mutton before. Certainly I shall never forget the first Welsh leg of mutton which I tasted, rich but delicate, replete with juices derived from the aromatic herbs of the noble Berwyn, cooked to a turn, and weighing just four pounds."


The mutton from this local producer comes from barren ewes; its appearance on sale is rare, as only the very best ewes are selected.