Each spring, as Easter approaches, lamb appears on menus and supermarket shelves across the country. It has become one of the most recognisable culinary symbols of the season — one that feels distinctly British. Yet the truth is, most of the lamb eaten at Easter is unlikely to be British at all. And the expectation that it should be available at that time of year says a great deal about how disconnected our food system has become from the land that sustains it.

When Is Lamb Actually in Season in the UK?

Britain is the perfect place to raise lamb. Our temperate climate, abundant rainfall and rolling grasslands have shaped a landscape ideally suited to grazing animals, and sheep farming has been woven into the fabric of rural Britain for centuries.

But British lamb season does not align with Easter. Most ewes give birth in early spring, between February and April. Lambs are then weaned and spend the summer grazing on grass before coming to market. The lamb that is truly in season in Britain arrives from late summer through to autumn and into winter — not in April.

The lamb so associated with Easter is either imported — most commonly from New Zealand — or produced through systems that push animals outside their natural rhythm: early lambing, housed ewes, additional feed, and greater pressure on farmers already operating on tight margins.

Why Does This Matter for British Farmers?

The supermarket model has accelerated this disconnect. Global supply chains make it possible to offer the same foods year-round, regardless of where or when they are produced. Seasonal rhythms that once governed our diets are smoothed out and replaced by an illusion of endless availability.

For British farmers, this creates a deeply uneven playing field. Sheep farmers in particular operate on narrow margins, and many upland farms rely on livestock not just for income but to sustain entire rural economies and landscapes. When we reach for lamb at Easter simply because it appears on supermarket shelves, we are often unknowingly directing our spending away from the very farmers who steward the countryside around us.

The Breeds We're Losing

Britain is home to an extraordinary diversity of native sheep breeds — from hardy hill sheep like the Herdwick and the Welsh Mountain, to beautiful longwool breeds such as the Cotswold and the Lincoln. Many of these breeds evolved over centuries in response to specific landscapes and farming traditions, uniquely adapted to their environments and vital to maintaining biodiversity, grazing patterns and rural heritage.

Modern supply chains, however, favour fast-growing, uniform breeds that deliver consistent carcass sizes for supermarket shelving. As market pressure intensifies, farmers are increasingly pushed to replace traditional breeds with commercial crosses that grow more quickly and hit retail specifications. The result is an accelerating erosion of genetic diversity and farming culture — breeds that once defined regional landscapes quietly sidelined because they do not fit the industrial model.

What to Eat Instead This Easter

The most powerful thing we can do as food buyers is reconsider what we put on the table and when. The good news is that spring offers some genuinely outstanding British alternatives — and in many cases, something more interesting than a leg of lamb.

Instead of a leg of lamb, try a Pasture Fed Boneless Beef Rib

A boneless rib of beef from slow-grown, native-breed cattle is one of the great British centrepiece roasts. Deeply marbled, rich in flavour and effortless to carve, it is a genuinely celebratory joint that needs nothing more than time in the oven and a good resting. This is the cut that earns its place at the Easter table without compromise.

Shop our Pasture Fed Boneless Beef Rib

Instead of a boneless lamb joint, try a Slow Grown Whole Chicken

A properly free-range, slow-grown whole chicken is worlds apart from anything found in a supermarket. Raised on pasture with time to develop real flavour, the breast is tender, the legs are rich and the whole bird roasts to a deep golden finish. For a smaller gathering, or for anyone who finds the centrepiece roast tradition more stressful than joyful, a beautiful slow-grown chicken is an honest, seasonal and deeply satisfying alternative.

Shop our Slow Grown Whole Chicken

Both are reared by small-scale British farmers, traceable to source, and produced in a way that works with the land rather than against it. That is the Easter table we want to set.

The Question Worth Asking Every Time You Shop

Traditions evolve, and food cultures change. Easter can still be a moment of real celebration around the table — it just doesn't have to mean imported lamb.

If we want a future in which British farmers can thrive, our landscapes remain diverse, and our food system becomes more resilient, we need to start with one simple question — every time we shop, every time we cook:

Is this the right food for this place, and this season?

At Pipers & Co, that question sits at the heart of everything we do. Every product we source is traceable to a specific farm, produced within natural seasonal rhythms, and chosen because it represents the best of what small-scale British farming can offer.

Shop our full Easter range