25 Pilgrimages For Cheese Lovers In The UK

Britain makes 700+ cheeses. Go forth and gorge, turophiles.

Flickr: stu_p / Flickr: julia_manzerova / Creative Commons / internationalcheeseawards.co.uk

1. La Fromagerie, London.

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Where better to start than these spectacular emporiums in Highbury and Marylebone? Despite the French name, La Fromagerie stocks hundreds of cheeses from eleven different countries including stacks of British classics from Appleby's Cheshire to Richard III Wensleydale.

2. La Cave A Fromage, London.

Creative Commons / Flickr: stu_p

It might also sound French but La Cave - which has branches in South Kensington, Notting Hill and Hove - also sells a variety of British cheeses. Go soft or go hard, opt for cow's, goat's, or ewe's milk, and snack your way round the shop in preparation for our tour.

3. Cheddar, Somerset.

Creative Commons / Flickr: vissago

The obvious first port of call on any self-respecting cheese tour. Cheddar is the most popular cheese in the UK, accounting for 51% of all cheese sales, but while it originated from round here it doesn't have a Protected Designation of Origin, so anyone can make it. The only actual cheddar made in the region is by the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company.

4. Keen’s Cheddar, Somerset.

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West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, on the other hand, is protected - and may only be produced in Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall using milk from those counties. Keen's are one of many top producers.

5. Stilton, Cambridgeshire.

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Daniel Defoe was scoffing the famous blue in this small village 300 years ago, but it's actually Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire that have the honour of producing the cheese. Melton Mowbray is probably your best bet nowadays.

George Orwell had it about right when he turned his thoughts to the subject: "Then there are the English cheeses. There are not many of them but I fancy that Stilton is the best cheese of its type in the world."

6. Dorset.

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Head southwest for another protected cheese, the majestic Dorset Blue. Made only in this county from partially skimmed, raw milk and pressed, rubbed, salted and matured over several months, it's a shining example of cheese alchemy. Exmoor (for Exmoor Blue) and Staffordhire (for Staffordshire Cheese) are two other counties with protected products worth a visit.

7. The Cheese Pantry at Connage Highland Dairy, Scottish Highlands.

connage.co.uk

kilnford.co.uk

Watch cheesemongers in action, sample cheese, buy cheese and grab cheesy accoutrements at this award-winning organic mecca. The nutty, golden Connage Dunlop (pictured) is worth the journey alone.

8. The Welbeck Estate, Nottinghamshire.

Creative Commons / Flickr: julia_manzerova

Come for the Stichelton, the first raw milk Stilton produced in Britain since the 1960's which is made exclusively from their herd of Friesian Holstein cows, and stay for the Wellbeck Abbey ales, local breads, meat and chocolates. But mostly come for the cheese.

9. Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival, Dorset.

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Thomas Hardy called Sturminster Newton "the vale of little dairies", and little has changed since in the cheese stakes. If the names Bath Soft Cheese, Lyburn Farmhouse, or Norsworth Goat's Cheese mean anything to you, get yourself down there. If they don't, get yourself down there.

10. Kappacasein, London.

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They do cheese, in bread, grilled. Montgomery Cheddar, Ogleshield and Comté in sourdough. Grilled cheese. Just eat it. They do raclette too.

11. Long Clawson Dairy, Leicestershire.

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These cheese experts specialise in Aged Leicestershire Red (aka real Red Leicester), but offer everything from Stilton to Tabasco cheddar. Their signature cheese is buttered, cloth-bound and matured for six months, producing (in their own words), "a flaky, open texture cheese with a slightly sweet, caramelised flavour and rich orange colour". Their farm shop is open two days of each month, so time your visit wisely.

12. Colston Bassett Dairy, Nottingham.

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One of the four dairies in the East Midlands that make the majority of the country's Shropshire Blue stock. Essentially a Stilton with annatto added to the milk to turn it orange, it's a mellow blue, and the farm shop next to the dairy push it to eager punters. There have only been four cheesemakers in 100 years at this hallowed place.

13. Cropwell Bishop Creamery, Nottingham.

Getty / Peter Macdiarmid

These guys also make Shropshire Blue, alongside wheels of Stilton that practically beg you to bury your face in them. Their cheese can be bought online.

14. Wensleydale Creamery, Yorkshire.

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Less of a cheese shop and more of a cheese theme park, this place is part museum, part visitor's centre and an all-encompassing cheese wonderland. They say the experience makes cheese come to life, but really it's all a long prologue to the tasting.

15. Dymock, Gloucestershire.

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Laurel Farm in Dymock is the home of Stinking Bishop, the smelly joy whose unmistakable aroma comes from the perry in which the rind is soaked and ripened. Wallace and Gromit's favourite is created from a combination of Gloucester and Friesian cow's milk and only 20 tonnes of the stuff is produced each year.

16. Stroud Farmer's Market, Gloucestershire.

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A massive weekly affair, the market is the place to head to for Double Gloucester cheese from local producers like Jonathan Crump and Godsells Cheese.

17. Anna Mae's, various festivals & London.

Creative Commons / Flickr: kerrypolka

The best mac cheese in the country?

18. The Fine Cheese Co., Bath.

Offering over 100 British cheeses as well as a number of cheese biscuits you'll hoover up in a heartbeat, this Bath institution is an essential pit stop.

They sell cheese wedding cakes too.

19. The Liverpool Cheese Company, Woolton.

Creative Commons / Flickr: keithpatterson

These guys also specialise in cheese wedding cakes, such as the Jenny cake which boasts an embarrassment of creamy riches: Cornish Yarg, Snowdonia Extra Mature Cheddar, Delice de Cremiers, Cashel Blue and Coeur Neufchatel.

20. Cheese & Wine Festival, London.

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At the Southbank and Spitalfields in the autumn. These were in attendance last year.

21. Malpas, Cheshire.

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Home of the fiendishly moorish Cheshire cheese, and Reece's Creamery, who have been perfecting the stuff since 1886.

22. Truro, Cornwall.

Flickr: sheeprus

Head west for Lynher Dairies, who specialise in Cornish Yarg, a nettle-wrapped, semi-hard revelation of a cheese.

23. The International Cheese Awards, Nantwich.

internationalcheeseawards.co.uk

They call it the world's largest cheese awards and they may be right. The cheese marquee has recently been enlarged to 80,500 sq ft and houses in excess of 4,400 cheeses from 26 countries. You really can't get much more cheese in one place.

24. The Cheese Shed, Devon.

thecheeseshed.com

A virtual stop on our cheese tour, but a worthy one, if only for the wall of cheese on their website.

25. Neal’s Yard Dairy, London.

Creative Commons / Flickr: lhl

An institution and rightly so, Neal's Yard buys cheese from around 70 cheesemakers in Britain and Ireland, and sells them to hungry Londoners with passion and knowledge. Whether you're after Kirkham Lancashire or Duckett's Caerphilly - or perhaps a cheesy surprise - they'll be able to sort you out.