I find the free range eggs tasting marginally better than the cheapest Tesco/Asda/Morrisons Value eggs. They have a nicer colour of the yolks and a tiny bit more flavour. But if you ask me, it's definitely not worth a 4x increase in price.
I think that both Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have done programs that have covered how poultry is farmed, but which ever one it was that I watched it definitely left me with the lasting belief that I don't want to eat eggs or chicken that isn't free range.
[Following up: the answer appears to be "it's a designation for premium eggs at the supermarket".]
I suppose similar things exist in the US?
Organic eggs are by definition free range eggs (in the US at least), but the reverse is not necessarily true.
Well, it's a designation as to the conditions in which the chickens are kept.
"free range indoors" means large stables, no cages, multiple levels and a maximum of 9 hens per m^2.
"free range indoors and outdoors" is the same as indoors, but with the addition of an outside yard with at least 4m^2 per hen.
Battery cages were banned in 1988, but cages are still allowed. max 13 hens per m^2 and max 16 hens per cage, and there needs to be a nesting area.
So it's not all crap, but the day when we can synthesize food cannot come fast enough.