When top London restaurateur Mark Hix tasted Achill Mountain Lamb at Peter Hannan’s Meat Merchant headquarters in Co Down recently, he was so impressed that he wrapped up the leg and took it back on the plane to England – in his rucksack.

Though, with the Calvey family’s lambs in season this summer, you can just make a quick phone call and have your order hand-cut and couriered to your door – from hilltop to tabletop, if you will.

Because, while the family might be celebrating 150 years of hill sheep farming on Achill, the new generation – led by sisters Martina, Grainne and Helen Calvey – is determined to bring the product to a whole new market, with talks to export to Hong Kong and more of the EU.

While the Calveys can trace their involvement with the Mayo black-faced ewe back to 1866, the story of Achill Mountain Lamb as it is today started in 1962 when their father, Martin, began selling lamb to local restaurants before setting up his own abattoir, butcher shop and restaurant to meet demand from visitors, with marketing slogans such as “Bring Achill Home” that were well ahead of their time.

“At the time when he set up his butcher shop, most people his age were emigrating to England and America,” explains Gráinne.

“He had the foresight to see that he could make a living in Achill by setting up a business and selling this lamb – and he did and he raised 10 children through it, putting us all through college and everything through this business. He was very entrepreneurial.”

Equally forward-thinking was the involvement of the girls on the farm; though as Helen jokes, with eight daughters out of 10 children, the men in the family were always outnumbered.

However, Martina explains how Achill has always had a long tradition of women taking the lead on the land.

“The women in Achill were head of the house because the man was away, going back generations and generations,” she says.

“They were the decision makers, they reared the family, they had to be capable and able and competent. They were practical, they had great reserves of common sense and they were extremely resilient.”

Indeed, from an early age, the sisters could easily flit between the farm, abattoir, butcher shop and restaurant, while also pursuing their studies and respective careers.

“We weren’t treated any differently because we were female,” says Martina, who also trained as a teacher. “In a way, it was probably a strength to my father because we were so versatile. We could turn our hand to so much.”

Grainne, for example, was just 14 when she started learning the skills of butchery from her father, and she later took over the shop.

“Or when the restaurant was open, I would close the butcher shop and go in and work in the kitchen in the evening until finish,” she says. “But that was just what you did. You didn’t think twice about it.”

“You never thought you weren’t capable of anything,” adds Helen, who attributes her involvement in the farm and family business to giving her the confidence to go to England at 17 to study radiography, and complete an MBA at just 24.

“We were very industrious, but I’m very grateful at this age in my life that I was always such a hard worker. I think it stood to me in my own career.”

While Achill Mountain Lamb always had a dedicated customer base, in the run-up to the 50th anniversary the sisters decided it was time to share the secret by relaunching the company with professional branding and imagery, connecting with new customers via social media, getting involved with initiatives like the “Gourmet Greenway” and working with chefs and restaurants with a commitment to “food honesty”.

Part of what makes Achill Mountain Lamb so distinctive is that it is free to roam and graze on up to 20,000 acres of commonage on Achill, roaming from cliff top to shoreline – a flavour the Calveys describe as “heather-sweetened and seaside-seasoned”.

With a season that runs from July right through ’til Christmas, lambs are sourced from their own family farms as well as those of trusted suppliers on the island, with Martin still hands-on when it comes to selecting the best animals to go to their own abattoir in Keel for full traceability.

Traditional butcher methods are still used, though, today, you can order your own lamb cut to your requirements online or over the phone and have it couriered freezer-ready to your front door for just €15. It is also available in top restaurants nationwide, such as Ashford Castle. Though, this year, they are in talks to export to more of the EU and, for the first time ever, to Hong Kong. The Calvey sisters hope this is only the start of targeting high-end stockists both at home and abroad.

“Like the guy from Bord Bia said to me, our lamb doesn’t belong anywhere else except on the shelf in Harrods – that’s where he sees it,” says Martina.

While crediting their father’s vision and input to this day, as well as the work of other family members, supportive suppliers and loyal staff, the Calvey sisters are very much to the fore for the future growth of Achill Mountain Lamb.

With Gráinne overseeing sales, the abattoir and the butcher shop, Martina is involved in every aspect of the business, from administration to brand development, while Helen, who works with Siemens, was heavily involved in the brand relaunch and still oversees the Twitter account.

“Achill lamb is not just a product to us – it’s part of who we are,” stresses Martina. “It’s like if there’s 10 in the family and two parents, but there’s actually an extra person – it’s Achill lamb. That’s the way it is. And that’s how protective we are of it and we want to do our best by it.

“We have a great product and why wouldn’t we be shouting to the whole country about it?”

For further information, visit www.achilllamb.ie, call 098-43158 or follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

@AchillMtnLamb? CL