Herdwick hogget is Britain's new favourite meat

One of the Lake District's most famous and best-loved authors, Beatrix Potter, was a great admirer of the breed. Miss Potter actually bred herdwick sheep herself, winning major prizes at local shows and in 1943 she became the first woman to be elected president of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association. She even wrote a book about her herdwick sheep, it was called The Fairy Caravan , but was only released at the time in America.

So when looking at our best-loved sheep where better to start than at a farm which was owned by Miss Potter in the 1930s. Yew Tree Farm was used in the 2006 movie Miss Potter , starring Rene Zellweger, as the author's home Hill Top Farm and it still contains some of her furniture.

Yew Tree Farm, in Coniston, is now one of the most photographed farms in Northern England and along with its 'spinning gallery' and accommodation it also sells home-bred Lake District meat across the whole of the UK.

Farmer Jon Watson, 52, and his partner Jo McGrath run their Heritage Meats business from the farm, specialising in herdwick hogget, herdwick mutton and belted galloway beef. Their animals roam freely over the herb-rich pastures and fells living a truly free-range lifestyle.

The herdwick is native to the Lake District and Cumbria. The name "herdwick" is derived from the Old Norse herdvyck, recorded in documents going back to the 12th century. Herdwick sheep are the most hardy of all Britain’s breeds of hill sheep, grazing the central and western dales of the Lake District where fells rise to more than 3,000 feet.

Recently, herdwick hogget has become an increasingly popular meat in restaurants and with top chefs.

So what exactly is hogget and just what makes it so special? We asked farmer Jon Watson to give us the low down.

"Hogget is the meat from an adolescent sheep between the age of 12 months and two years," he says. "What makes the meat so special is that its texture and flavour is so rich and tasty. The herdwick sheep we raise here are free to roam the fells during winter and I think that it is the varied diet of grass some days, leaves, heather and berries on other days that makes the meat so good.

"We have more than 1,000 herdwick sheep on our farm at any one time and they have longer to mature than the ordinary lambs that are sold for meat. They have a very full and relaxed life, they are mostly sheared once and we often have up to three generations living alongside each other. They do not have to go through any traumatic journeys to a slaughterhouse like other sheep do and yet they are the hardiest, most rugged breed of sheep you'll find."

Farmer John's butchery and hogget cooking demonstrations were extremely interesting, if a little soggy - due to typical Cumbrian weather. There was also an art exhibition in the charming barn with Herdwick inspired paintings and jewellery as well as the chance to feed some adorable Herdwick lambs.

The cooking demonstrations were performed by well-known local chef and world record holder of the world's largest Cumberland sausage, Gary McClure. Mr McClure is a close friend of Jon and wanted to show off the fantastic flavours of the distinctive meat in his own recipes.

He said: "Herdwicks are allowed to grow and mature at their own pace on this diverse, 100 per cent natural diet and because of this they develop their own particular flavour.

"The herdwick is a versatile meat and with correct hanging times you get cuts that can be cooked quickly, and cuts suited for cooking long and slow. Both of which will bring out those wonderful flavours of the Lake District hillsides.

"I find it very satisfying that people like Jon from Yew Tree Farm puts quality and flavour before profit.

"Jon is a firm believer in promoting the herdwick and the Lake District and supports me at the many shows I attend with the McClure pop-up kitchen."

Jon was helped during his butchery demonstrations by Ian Butterfield, who helps him out every Wednesday." Ian showed a captivated audience just how to carve up half a sheep and where all the different cuts of meat that we see in a supermarket come from.

Ian cut out all the different bones and he explained that usually supermarkets leave the more fiddly bones in the meat in order to charge more per kg!

Jon sends out his meat by first class post every day all over the country, he said: "I have Gold Taste awards for the meat and you can really taste the difference when you compare it with supermarket meat.

He said: "A lot of the meat goes to London and the home counties, the furthest I have sent it was to the Isles of Scilly and we even get orders from Wales - you would think they have enough lamb there!"

"

READ MORE:

BBQ inspiration to try this week

Barrow restaurant deserves to be a lot busier