Get to know your Sunday roast

London : As you carve your roast lamb, have you ever wished you'd been more involved in its arrival on your plate than simply popping to the supermarket?

If so, one enterprising farmer may have the answer: Grow your own.

For £176 each (Dh1,061), Brett Varker is offering shoppers the chance to be "completely involved" in every stage of a lamb's life, from before its birth to its arrival on the dinner plate.

Varker said: "Many of us grow our own vegetables but we're going a step further.

"Farming seems like a dark art to people these days, so we want to show them what is involved and how much we care for our animals."

Customers are first given the opportunity to choose a pair of sheep from six breeds of ewe and four breeds of ram.

The pair are then placed in a field and the buyer can watch them mate and return five months later to witness the ewe giving birth to their future Sunday roast. They are then allowed a monthly visit to see the lamb gambolling in the fields. At six months old it is slaughtered and then prepared to the customer's specification, before being delivered wrapped to their door — at an average weight of nearly 90lb.

Varker, 48, of Rowhorne Farm near Exeter, Devon, said: "Great satisfaction can be obtained from eating the fruit of your own labours.

"We developed Grow Your Own Lamb to enable them to sit down to a meal, where they can say they have produced everything on the plate ..."