Artisan British cheeses 

We select and mature cheese.

We nurture and support the cream of British cheesemakers. 

We offer a wide range: from hard to washed rind to soft. Some cheeses may be familiar but others are being exported only by us. In each case though, the story is similar. We work directly with cheesemakers. The milk is often from their own herds because they are also farmers. Their methods are traditional and their batches are small.  But each works in their own terroir. Britain is not a big country but the diversity of cheese is great.

Note that the cheeses here are some of our more popular but are just part of our large selection.

We are located in Somerset, the home of Cheddar, so this veritable British cheese is in our DNA. Cheddar is well known, but is perhaps not so well understood. We are often asked why we stock so many. That is a valid question, especially when a cheesemonger only has so much counter space. The answer is that we have selected the Cheddar cheeses in this range because each possesses a unique set of characteristics that makes it utterly distinct from the others. We hope to make the distinctions clear, so that you can tell at a glance what you can expect from each Cheddar, and be armed with the knowledge you need to pick the ones that are right for you. 

QUICKE’S EXTRA MATURE CLOTHBOUND CHEDDAR
18-21 MONTHS  

  • Quicke’s Traditional, Devon

  • Complex and balanced, grassy and brothy.

    The Quicke family have farmed in Devon for almost 500 years and make their world-famous Cheddar from the milk of their own grass-fed dairy cows.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 59 lbs.

British Cheddar

Montgomery's Cheddar HAND-SELECTED 

  • J.A. & E. Montgomery, Somerset

  • Dense, rich, savory and nutty. Prolonged finish.

    Montgomery's Cheddar cheese is made with skill and care, aged in cloth and stripped after a long maturing process. The Montgomery family has farmed in South Somerset for three generations. Cheese has been made at the farm since before current owner and cheesemaker Jamie’s grandfather retired there in 1911.

  • Pasteurized/Raw cow (Typically made with raw milk but may occasionally be made with pasteurized milk. Your piece of cheese will be clearly labeled.)

  • 52.8 lbs.

QUICKE’S Vintage CLOTHBOUND CHEDDAR
24 MONTHS  

  • Quicke’s Traditional, Devon

  • Rich and intense. Deeply savory with hints of caramel.

    The most mature Cheddar made by the Quicke family. These cheeses are carefully nurtured in the maturing rooms to develop their full potential.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 59 lbs.

pitchfork Cheddar
HAND-SELECTED 

  • Trethowan’s Dairy, Somerset

  • Savory, meaty and satisfyingly succulent.

    Not only did this cheese win Best Cheddar at the 2021 World Cheese Awards, it was placed fourth in the World’s Best Cheese category. Quite a feat from Todd and Maugan Trethowan, the cheesemaking brothers. At least an extra six months spent in the family’s maturing rooms gives this Cheddar even more stunning complexity and richness.

  • Raw cow

  • 52.8 lbs.

ST. ANDREW’S FARMHOUSE CHEDDAR  

  • St. Andrews Farmhouse Cheese, Fife, Scotland

  • Sharp and fruity.

    The cows of Scotland are made of tough stuff, as Jane Stewart’s herd of Friesian Holsteins graze outdoors near the coast of Fife, braving the elements and the stiff breezes from the North Sea.

  • Raw cow

  • 26.4 lbs.

WESTCOMBE CHEDDAR 
Hand-selected

  • Westcombe Dairy, Somerset

  • Complex and grassy.

    Cheese has been made at Westcombe since the 1890s and the dairy now remains as one of the last three traditional producers of Somerset Cheddar. The Calver family, which has operated the farm for generations, is one of the last three families, along with Jamie Montgomery and the Trethowans, to make traditional Artisan Somerset Cheddar.

  • Pasteurized/Raw cow (Typically made with raw milk but may occasionally be made with pasteurized milk. Your piece of cheese will be clearly labeled.)

  • 59 lbs.

WESTCOMBE SMOKED CHEDDAR  

  • Westcombe Dairy, Somerset

  • Complex Cheddar flavor meets smoky and grassy notes.

    Cheesemaker Tom Calver used to smoke cuts of his award-winning Cheddar in a converted British red phone box. Now the smoking takes place in a custom-built unit that resembles a little chicken shed.

  • Pasteurized/Raw cow (Typically made with raw milk but may occasionally be made with pasteurized milk. Your piece of cheese will be clearly labeled.)

  • 2.2 lbs

Keen's Cheddar
Hand-Selected

  • Keen’s Cheddar, Somerset

  • Moist, tangy and full-bodied.

    The Keens have a long history of Cheddar-making. They have been at Moorhayes Farm since 1899 and James Keen is now the fifth generation to make this great cheese.

  • Raw cow

  • 52.8 lbs.

British hard cheeses came to prominence during the British renaissance in cheesemaking, in the late 80s to early 90s. Now modern classics, these cheeses are a combination of traditional techniques and creative invention…and are superb additions to any collection. 

British Territorial and Hard Cheeses

WYFE OF BATH
  

  • Bath Soft Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Rich, nutty, creamy, and “bouncy.”

    This cheese takes its name from the Wyfe of Bath in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, a character with an insatiable appetite for pleasure. The experience is well-understood by all who have sampled this Gouda-style cheese. Cheesemaker Graham Padfield uses the organic milk from his own herd of Holstein Friesian cows to make the cheese, which is formed in a basket mold before being aged for four months. The flavor changes slightly according to the season, but it is always sweet and rich, and redolent of buttercup meadows.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 5.72 lbs

CORNISH YARG  

  • Lynher Dairies, Cornwall

  • Creamy, and slightly crumbly in the core.

    The recipe for this cheese was discovered in an attic by cheesemaker Alan Gray, and gets its name from his last name spelled backwards. It is loosely based on a Caerphilly recipe, and wrapped in stinging nettles that are completely edible. The nettles are hand-picked from the local Cornish countryside when they are a bright, vibrant green, and frozen for use throughout the year. Once the cheeses have been removed from their molds and brined ready for maturation, the leaves are applied in elegant concentric circles. The leaves protect the cheese, while allowing it to breathe and attract the specific molds that encourage the beautiful lace-like appearance of the rind to develop. This in turn begins to break down the interior of the cheese, although the texture remains gently crumbly in nature.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 6.6 lbs

OLD WINCHESTER  

  • Lyburn Farmhouse Cheese, Hampshire

  • Full-flavored. Subtly sweet with crystalline finish.

    Made in the Gouda-style (with more than a hint of Parmesan about it), Old Winchester is aged for around 18 months. It has a full flavor, an underlying sweetness, and a wonderful crystalline finish that crunches on the tongue.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 8.8 lbs

QUICKE’S GOAT CLOTHBOUND   

  • Quicke’s Traditional, Devon

  • Earthy and full-flavored, with notes of sweet almonds.

    Hand-made in the style of traditional Cheddar, but with local goat’s milk, this cheese is clothbound and matured for around six months to develop a well-rounded character quite unlike other goats’ milk cheeses.

  • Pasteurized goat

  • 59 lbs / Available in quarters 

Sharpham Rustic  

  • Sharpham Dairy, Devon

  • Rich and buttery with a fresh, lactic finish.

    Molded into an unusual saucer shape, Sharpham Rustic is made by Mark Sharman and Debbie Mumford on the Sharpham Estate. The Jersey cows that provide the rich, organic milk for the cheese graze on water meadows in the beautiful Dart valley.

  • Raw cow

  • 3.3 lbs

Sharpham Rustic Chive and Garlic 

  • Sharpham Dairy, Devon

  • Rich and savory, with an onion-y tang.

    A cheese based on an idea from the cows themselves, who have a taste for the wild garlic where they graze. To help nature along, the cheesemakers add more garlic and chives to the milk.

  • Raw cow

  • 3.3 lbs

GORWYDD CAERPHILLY

  • Trethowan’s Dairy, Somerset

  • Fresh but not quite so crumbly, with a savoury note of mushrooms near the rind.

    A ‘Super Gold’ Winner, voted 12th best cheese in the world at the 2022 World Cheese Awards. Gorwydd (pronounced ‘GOR-with’) is Welsh for ‘edge of a forest’. The judges saw the wood for the trees.

  • Raw cow

  • 8.8lbs

TICKLEMORE  

  • Sharpham Dairy, Devon

  • Herbaceous with citrus notes. Crumbly but supple under the rind.

    This mild cheese made in a basket mold is named after the street in the town of Totnes, where the original cheesemaker, Robin Congdon, had a cheese shop for a number of years.

  • Pasteurized goat

  • 3.3 lbs

hereford hop  

  • Charles Martell & Son, Gloucestershire

  • The slightly tangy, moist interior complements the toasted, hoppy rind.

    Created nearly 30 years ago, Hereford Hop is often copied, but never equalled. Starting with a Single Gloucester recipe, the cheese is coated in toasted hops and then wrapped to retain moisture.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 5 lbs

double berkeley  

  • Charles Martell & Son, Gloucesterhire

  • Full, rounded flavor, balanced by zippy acidity that makes a satisfying counterpoint to a more full flavored, rounded profile.

    The paste has a dappled tone of straw and bright copper, as annatto is added to some of the curds. Known to have been made as long ago as 1796. A beautifully balanced cheese.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 5.51 lbs.

THELMA’S ORIGINAL CAERFFILI  
  

  • Caws Cenarth, Carmarthenshire, Wales

  • Moist, crumbly and fresh tasting.

    Thelma Adams began using an old family recipe to make this Caerffili in the 1980s. To protest a drastic cut in milk prices, Thelma once publicly bathed in milk while dressed as Cleopatra. In tribute, every wheel of Thelma’s Original now bears an image of Thelma in her queenly glory.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 6.6 lbs

Stoney cross  

  • Lyburn Farmhouse Cheese, Hampshire

  • Creamy, buttery and sweet, with an earthy finish.

    Made in the style of French Tomme de Savoie using the same recipe as Lyburn’s famous Old Winchester, but with a natural rind to give a very different result. The name comes from an old WWII airfield near the creamery.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 5.5 lbs

British soft and washed rind cheeses are a testament to the quality of rich and creamy milk, which is transformed into soft and luxurious creations, with golden and glorious oozy centers. A world of powerful, complex and intriguing flavors awaits. Some of these cheeses take their inspiration from their French counterparts, which have long been the gold standard. Others are born of British ingenuity and cheesemaking skill.  

*Please note that all the cheeses in this range are air order only.   

British soft and washed rind

stinking bishop

  • Charles Martell & Son, Gloucestershire

  • Smooth, aromatic and gooey. Its pungency belies a more fruity, refined flavor.

    Stinking Bishop once featured in Wallace and Gromit’s Curse of the Were-Rabbit. A fan of keeping production small, cheesemaker Charles Martell was shocked to see a 500 percent increase in demand overnight.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 3.96 lbs

Golden Cenarth

  • Caws Cenarth, Carmarthenshire, Wales

  • Smooth, supple, and buttery.

    Pungent from cider wash. In the pantheon of creations born through chance, count this cheese alongside penicillin and the slinky. Carwyn Adams found an orange culture growing on a Caerffili, developed it, and Golden Cenarth was the happy result.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • .44 lbs

The Merry Wyfe

  • Bath Soft Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Bouncy but yielding. Fruity flavor, balanced by a slight, meaty savoriness.

    Curds from the renowned Wyfe of Bath are pressed, and then washed in cider produced by cheesemaker Graham Padfield on the farm. Aptly named after Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor—who wouldn’t be merry after a cider bath?

  • Pasteurized cow

  • .55 lbs

Bath Soft

  • Bath Soft Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Soft and yielding, with mushroomy notes.

    We know that this historic softy was the cheese of choice for Admiral Lord Nelson and his family, due to frequent references in their correspondence. The original recipe recommended using a feather to apply salt to the surface.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • .55 lbs

To earn the regal title of Stilton, a British blue must be made in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, or Leicestershire, to the exacting specifications and standards of the Stilton Cheesemakers’ Association. In spite of this, these celebrated cheeses vary greatly, and so two Stilton we offer presents unique flavor and texture qualities. Stilton maybe be the best known blue cheese but other blue cheeses are equally outstanding.

 

British blue cheeses 

Colston Bassett Stilton (Hand-Ladled)

  • Colston Bassett Dairy, Nottinghamshire

  • Rich and velvety smooth. Sweet with mineral tones, and winey spice.

    Made under the watchful eye of Billy Kevan, only the fourth Head cheesemaker of the dairy since 1920, Colston Bassett Stilton is the only remaining exclusively hand-ladled Stilton.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 4.84 lbs / 17.6 lbs

Colston Bassett Shropshire blue (Hand-Ladled)

  • Colston Bassett Dairy, Nottinghamshire

  • Rich and luscious, with sweet notes balanced by a delicate spice.

    Colston Bassett Shropshire Blue is made to the same recipe as their world famous Stilton except for the addition of annatto, which gives the paste its glorious sunshine hue.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 17.6 lbs

Traditional REnnet Cropwell Bishop Blue Stilton

  • Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire

  • A velvety-soft texture and a rich tangy flavor.

    Hand ladling the curds into molds is a distinctly artisan method, and cheeses produced this way—which is exclusively what we buy—accounts for only 10 to 15 percent of Cropwell Bishop’s Stilton production. Nottinghamshire Stilton is made by the current generation of the Skailes Family, who have been making Stilton cheese for over 160 years.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 17.6 lbs

Bath blue (Hand-Ladled)

  • Bath Soft Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Creamy and rich.

    Made according to a traditional recipe, entirely hand in very small batches by Graham and Hugh Padfield on their farm, using milk from their organic Friesian herd. Bath Blue won Supreme Champion at the 2013 World Cheese Awards.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 16.9 lbs

This range is made to our exacting specifications. Perfect for ‘Grab & Go’ when you want both quality and convenience. 

 

Made for The Fine Cheese Co.  

  • Made for The Fine Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Smooth, creamy, buttery and peppery.

    A beautiful, ceramic pot illustrated by the talented John Broadley filled with traditional hand-ladled Cropwell Bishop Stilton, this makes the perfect gift for a cheese lover.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • .22 lbs / .44 lbs

The Fine Cheese Co.
English Farmhouse Cheddar

  • Made for The Fine Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Sweet, full-flavored and tangy.

    Our range of Cheddars is made in conjunction with a West Country farmer to our own recipe and specifications. The cheeses are matured for around 14 months. After grading to ensure their quality and consistency, they are formed and dipped into burgundy wax.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 3.5 oz / 7 oz. / 14 oz / 4.4 lbs

The fine cheese Co.
BLUE STILTON CROCKS

The Fine Cheese Co.
Oak-Smoked Cheddar

  • Made for The Fine Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Balanced and mildly smoky.

    Made in Dorset, using traditional methods, then cold-smoked over real oak chips to give a natural, balanced smoke flavor that doesn’t outshine the mature, farmhouse character of the Cheddar. Presented in burgundy wax.

  • Pasteurized cow

  • 17.6 lbs

The Fine Cheese Co.
Goat Cheddar

  • Made for The Fine Cheese Co., Somerset

  • Moist and nutty with a delicate sweetness. Slightly crystalline.

    A mellow and nutty tasting Cheddar, hand-made from goats’ milk in Dorset, and matured for around six months. Less forceful in flavor than our English Farmhouse Cheddar.

  • Pasteurized goat

  • 7 oz

Our Products

  • FLAVORED CRACKERS

    FLAVORED CRACKERS

    Intentionally designed to make enjoying cheese a completely new adventure, our crackers are subtly flavored, so that the flavor of the cheese is never overwhelmed.

  • HERITAGE RANGE

    HERITAGE RANGE

    Britain’s historic crackers: reborn, refined and re-imagined. Stylish and all-butter, each of these crackers serves as a deeply satisfying partner to any cheese.

  • TOAST FOR CHEESE®

    TOAST FOR CHEESE®

    Thin, light, and crisp, and made with buttermilk, extra-virgin olive oil and natural ingredients—including up to 55% fruits, nuts and seeds, they have changed the way we eat cheese forever.

  • BUTTERCRUMB BUTTONS

    BUTTERCRUMB BUTTONS

    French sophistication, Italian style, and Swiss ingenuity meet in these all-butter, crumbly buttons made with plenty of real cheese.

  • Miller's Range

    Miller's Range

    Miller’s Toast®, Miller’s Organic®, and Miller’s Gluten-Free® are made with all the goodness of the miller’s table.