blog
Christmas Cheese 2023
Our 2023 Christmas boxes manage to give you a beautifully balanced self-contained cheeseboard whilst also drawing on dairies in five different Westcountry counties. read more »
courtyard
As a courtyard gates creak open to the public, here is the what, where, when and why for you. read more »
Clash Of The Titans
Our two most mature cheddars go head to head. Which one will come out on top? read more »
The Solar System
The idea of solar power has been around since we moved to our new building in early 2020. But it's only recently the whole system has been completed ... and made to work properly. Here's the story. read more »
Finished / Unfinished
We've been in no.1 Station Road for three years. 2020 was all about building work - smartening up the building and turning it into what we needed, with a cold store, a big packing room and a shop. In 2021 and 2022 we rested on our laurels ... but now we're going to move it on! read more »
We Raised HOW MUCH For Charity?
We just added up how much we'd given to charity (with your help) over the last seven years. The result was staggering ... read more »
Caerphilly: A Short Introduction
A few months ago we did a post about Double (and Single) Gloucester, and today I would like to put the spotlight on another classic of these islands: Caerphilly. We’re so familiar with the names of these traditional cheeses, but what are they? What distinguishes one from another? And what’s their history? read more »
Discovery Boxes
Introduction to our new 'Discovery Boxes'. read more »
Cheese Counter
Our cheese counter is our pride and joy. And we're proud of the fact that the counter we put together for the week is never the same twice. Here I look at one counter in one week and explain what cheeses we selected and why. read more »
Great Cider From Off The Beaten Track!
As we update our cider and perry offerings, here's an introduction to the three passionate, small-scale makers whose products are involved ... read more »
Four-tissimo!
Taking a look at one of our most popular cheese wedding cakes? What's the thinking behind it, and why does it appeal so much? read more »
The Gloucester Cheeses
Do you know your Double from your Single Gloucester? Here are the basics. read more »
Academy shoot
A new project that's under way is about creating new cheese wedding cakes. The other day we got together with the British Academy of Floral Art to come up with some stunning combinations of cheese and flowers ... read more »
Our Favourites Competition
Your chance to win Our Favourites: The Hamper! read more »
Save Bonds Meadow
We're currently raising money for three local good causes. One of them is aiming to save a small wild area in Bovey Tracey (our home town) from development. read more »
Bovey Straight
A new 'only available from The Cheese Shed' cheese is on our counter this week. This post is all about Bovey Straight. read more »
Plastic Use: Down And Going Down
We're still trying to use less plastic, and have just passed a bit of a milestone read more »
Weddings: Making a Comeback!
Our cheese wedding cake prices haven't budged since 2019. Soon they'll have to go up! But if you order one of our off-the-peg cakes before the end of April 2021, you'll be buying at a price unchanged for two years. read more »
A Big Thank You
Converting the old weavers' building at 1 Station Rd and making a shop there has been a huge task. We'd like to thank the people who helped us do it. read more »
Thank You For Supporting the ESNCM
Our charity fundraising went musical and international this time read more »
Day Of The Mini Sharphams
Help! Look out! It's an invasion of miniature cheeses! read more »
Christmas Photo Shoots
Recently we did our Christmas photo shoot. It's something which I always find very challenging but which our clever photographers have fortunately always taken in their stride! read more »
The New Place
We've finally moved into our new home. Here's how we got on, and how we're progressing with the work on the building ... read more »
New Things For Spring
A whole batch of new things for spring 2020, from Mexico, Macedonia and ... Leicester! Familiar things to have with cheese - pickled onions, port - are included alongside some interesting new ideas. If you'd like to take a look ... read more »
Moving Premises
This blog provides information on how we're affected by coronavirus. It will be updated as the situation progresses. read more »
Devon Maid
There's a new soft cheese on the block ... read more »
Progress on our new building
2020 is the year The Cheese Shed goes from black and white into colour. Or to put it another way, we're going from being mail order only to having an actual cheese shop. One you can walk into and buy cheese. Here's how we're getting along ... read more »
Christmas 2019
The Cheese Shed's Christmas page for 2019 is now up on the site, and you might like to take a look! We have a particular way of approaching Christmas based around the creation of a group of special gift boxes and hampers. If you're an existing customer of ours you'll be familar with the idea; if not, here's a quick guide ... read more »
Antipasti
What's new? A bunch of products offering a Mediterranean slant on what to eat with cheese, plus four new types of biscuits. read more »
Our New Premises
In 2006 we started out, half in a garden shed, half in the back room of the local deli. In 2012 we moved to the former HSBC bank premises, next door to said deli. Now it's time to move to our third home ... read more »
What Is The Wall Of Cheese?
Some questions are asked over and over again. So we've complied a list of some of the most commonly-asked ones, and devoted umpteen monger-hours to coming up with definitive answers ... read more »
Two New Cornish Cheeses
New cheeses are in from two brilliant Cornish dairies. Funny how Cornwall - not traditionally associated with cheese in the way that, say, Somerset is - has become such a great producer of wonderful cheeses, in just the last few decades. And here are the latest two ... read more »
Academy Of Cheese
How many of us would choose to go back to school? Maybe not that many. But how about cheese school? And a cheese school, or more specifically, the Academy Of Cheese, is exactly what has is now being created here in the UK. Last week I travelled up to see Mary Quicke, whose brainchild it is, to talk about the ideas behind it, and to find out just where the project has got to. read more »
The Cheese Shed's Guide to Cheeseboards
How to find your way through the baffling world of cheese to a fantastic cheeseboard. Just follow our step-by-step guide read more »
Weddings: The Big Picture
At a time of the year when weddings are on lots of peoples minds, here's a quick round-up of how The Cheese Shed can help with the cheese side of things. read more »
A Dorset Delight. A Blue Brie and a Supreme Champion
Introducing three new cheeses which have all earned their places on The Cheese Shed's hallowed shelves read more »
Culture special offer
In which the Crafty Mongers attempt to draw the Innocent People Of The British Isles into their Sticky Web Of Cheese via a use-it-or-lose-it offer. read more »
Two New Hampers
Introducing two new hampers ( which to us always means 'cheese-plus-other-things') to our range ... read more »
Valentines Day 2019
With Valentine's Day in mind, here's our suggestion for some lovely cheese that any cheese lover would surely love to have read more »
two new soft cheeses
Two new soft cheeses are now on our shelves: introducing Smokey Duke and Wootton White read more »
Weddings 2019
What The Cheese Shed can offer your wedding in 2019 ... cheese wedding cakes, either off-the-peg or bespoke, and introducing our most recent idea, the Cheese Table. read more »
like everyone, we’re thinking about plastic
Like everyone else, we need to try and address plastic use. This blog looks at where we've got to on this issue: what we've done, what we still need to do ... read more »
Walnuts In Honey
The latest addition to The Cheese Shed's offerings is a little jar of walnuts in honey! Here's how it came about read more »
Christmas Competition 2018
Our Christmas competition for 2018. Six winners, with prizes up to a £99.99 Christmas Quintet Hamper ... read more »
Our Charitable Giving
“Every mickle makes a muckle”, they say up there in North Britain. Or to put it another way, small amounts can accumulate into something quite substantial - and so it has very definitely proved with our collecting for good causes read more »
New! October 2018
New wines and charcuterie have just arrived. Oh - and a knife that thinks its a corkscrew. Or is it a corkscrew that thinks it's a knife? read more »
Wedding Bundles
This is a very simple idea and one which we know has worked for lots of you: sets of biscuits, chutneys and preserves to go with cheese, to suit numbers from 25 up to 150. We call them 'wedding bundles', but of course they'd suit any large event where there's a lot of people and a lot of cheese! read more »
A Culture Offer for September 2018
An introduction to Culture: our pay-as-you-go cheese box scheme. read more »
Cheese Tables
A new off-the-peg idea from The Cheese Shed. If you're hosting an event that would benefit from cheese (and there are a lot of those), it may be to your advantage to read more »
Smoked Cheeses
Smoking cheese has been around for a long time. You can readily imagine that early humans found - in their huts or shelters with an open fire - that their cheese became smoked whether they liked it or not. After that it must have became just one of the ways read more »
Pick Your Own!
If you've been interested in cheese wedding cakes you've probably come across these wheels made up of four different cheeses. We call them 'four quarters' wheels. Now there's a way you can choose exactly which four cheeses you'd like in yours ... read more »
Power Trio: Three Beautiful Strong Cheeses
Today the spotlight is on longer-matured versions of three great Cheese Shed favourites - Quicke's Cheddar, Beenleigh Blue and Cornish Gouda. If you know these cheeses I think you'll be fascinated to see what an extra six months or a year can do. And if you just like strong cheese, well ... read more »
All-Star Line Up: Meet This Year's Champion Cheeses
The British Cheese Awards for 2018 have just been announced, with big top-of-category awards for four of our cheeses ... read more »
Two Go Mad At River Cottage
James and I are just back from River Cottage Food Fair, where we presented a few of our favourite cheeses ... read more »
The new fresh cheeses
One of the things we’re keen to do is bring you the widest range of different cheese types that we can. That’s why - with 12 years experience behind us and a list of over 100 cheeses - we get excited about things that seem a bit different, or somehow fill a gap. read more »
Gilbert & Swayne
I’ve always thought that - alongside the cheese - we really ought to offer some chocolate as well. After all, if you were looking for a super-special and indulgent gift, ‘cheese and chocolate’ would surely fit the bill pretty well! But we’ve never found quite the right thing. Until now, that is: when we are delighted to introduce you to the beautiful chocolates of Gilbert & Swayne. read more »
What's It All About?
Down at the bottom of the front page there are four little boxes where we try to summarise what The Cheese Shed is about. Well - yes - we’re about selling cheese, obviously, but we’d like to think that in the process of doing that we have a certain way of working with people and relating to the wider world. So as we approach our 12th anniversary I just want say a little more about that ... read more »
More Choice For Vegetarians
A quick post to say that we've just improved things for vegetarians in the gift box and hamper departments. It occured to me that if someone was ordering a gift for a vegetarian friend, there wasn't quite as much choice as there ought to be. So we've done something about it! read more »
Put A Bit Of Culture Into Your Life!
It was getting on for two years ago now that we introduced Culture - a new type of cheese subscription 'box scheme'. It was different to other cheese subscription plans - including the one we'd had going for years. Today I'm going to run-through the basics - plus there's a Special Offer which might tempt you to take the plunge read more »
New Beers On The Block
We're just in the process of revising the beers and ciders we offer, and going in a slightly more Devon-focused direction. We just thought it would be nice to reflect a little more closely some of the great small breweries and cider houses in our home county read more »
Soft, Softer, Softest
Today we're putting the spotlight on our range of soft cheeses. No cheeseboard is complete without at least one of these, but ... blimey! There's a lot of them! Are they all totally different from one another? What's going on? To size up the softs we need to bring some order to the teeming, bewildering world of soft cheese. Let's divide them into four groups ... read more »
What Cheeses Do Mums Like?
A poetic summary of the latest research into the tricky issue of What Cheeses Mums Like read more »
On Pregnancy-Friendly Cheese ... and Cheese Subscriptions!
The perennial issue of what cheese can you eat - or can't you eat - when your'e expecting! Plus our new gift idea: the pregnancy-friendly subscription read more »
Two new cheeses
Hooray! My favourite thing ... finding exciting new cheeses and adding them to our shelves - and today a couple of real one-offs make their debut in The Cheese Shed ... read more »
Valentine's Day 2018
Valentine's Day! It's got to be cheese, hasn't it? I mean, honestly: could there be any better way to show your devotion than through some top notch cheese? I think we all know the answer. But ... how to put the plan together? read more »
Marwenne & Drogo
It's been exciting to work with local dairies to bring you two new cheeses for Christmas 2017: Marwenne and Drogo. These have been created especially for us, so you really won't find them anywhere else ... read more »
Christmas 2017
Here we are again ... and if you've been a customer of ours for some time you'll know that at Christmas we always produce some special gift boxes and hampers. They've become a fixture of our lives at this time of year, and I know they are for many of you too. What I want to do here is just introduce this year's boxes and explain the thinking behind them read more »
A Great Autumn Recipe from Home Farm Café
This week I've been up to a super local restaurant - Home Farm Café - to see what their chef can do with two great Cheese Shed Cheeses. The result is a beautifully comforting gratin that you'll really appreciate now that the days are getting shorter, cooler and damper! So take a look ... read more »
Meeting boxes
Meetings! Most organisations have them. And meetings - if they're all day - need lunch. It's our firm belief that cheese improves most things - and that very definitely includes meetings - so we thought The Cheese Shed could draw on its fabulous selection to put together a beautiful cheese-based lunch for meetings of 5, 10, 15 or 20 people. Here's how they work, and what you get ... read more »
Fondue, Mark Two
Our fondue-related offerings have just been revised and improved via the addition of one extra-special cheese ... read more »
Introducing Pomona, and the Blue Moon Hamper
We've stocked Somerset Cider Brandy for a while ... now we've broadened out a bit with more mature versions, plus their unique 'Pomona'. read more »
Nourish 2017
In 2014 we got together with two other organisations here in Bovey - Devon Guild Of Craftsmen and the Contemporary Crafts Festival - to start a new festival in the town. The idea was to create something based around contemporary craft (which the town is known for), food and music. We called it Nourish ... and here's how this year's festival went read more »
New Wyfe Of Bath
If you know your Chaucer you'll probably say that the Wyfe of Bath was always both these things, but it has to be said that the cheese version was always quite sober and, well, mild. But no more! We've just started stocking two new versions of Graham Padfield's cheese, Extra Mature Wyfe Of Bath (above) and Merry Wyfe (below). To find out more, go here read more »
Four Quarters Cakes
New! Three cheese cakes built around the idea of the 'four quarters' cheese wheel. All the appeal of the classic wedding cheese stack, but now containing even more variety - whether you're catering for 40/50, 60/70 or around 100 guests. read more »
River Cottage Festival
James and I just spent a tiring but exhilarating weekend at the River Cottage Festival, flying the flag for this region’s incredible cheese. We heard music, basked in the surroundings and the extraordinary weather, met Hugh F-W, but mainly - you got it, we talked cheese. So what were the top five cheeses, based on the preferences of the keen food enthusiasts we met up there? Read my blog to find out. read more »
Polmarkyn: It's All About The Goats
Well, ok, it's also about cheese ... but Katie Wood and partner Glyn do love their goats ... and know every one of their small herd by name. Polmarkyn Dairy is a real newcomer on the Cornish cheese scene but already they've filled a gap by producing three soft goats' cheeses - alongside raw milk yoghurt and milk - which no-one else is doing down here ... read more »
Spruced-Up Website
The latest revisions to our website went live on July 27th. This blog explains what's new, and the thinking behind it ... read more »
Fresh & Fruity
I don't know about where you are, but down here in Devon it's been pretty hot recently. So cheese-wise, what works in the summer? read more »
Introducing: Our New Range Of Wines
For a while now, we've wanted to rejuvenate our wine selection, and finally, the opportunity to do that in an exciting way came when we spotted a new wine shop, Jaded Palates, opening just up the road in Chagford. Working with Ian, we've completely renewed what we offer. And: we've broadened it out ... and often these new wines come from Ian's own relationship with makers that are - as we would have it - 'off the beaten track' ... read more »
Smörgås!
In our pursuit of new and different things to do with cheese, this week I turned to my old friend Annika Skoogh for help. Annika is from Sweden but has lived in the UK for 17 years. Because I know she's a great enthusiast for her country - and its food - I asked her to give me a lesson on how to make Scandinavian open sandwiches (in Sweden, smörgås; in Denmark, smørrebrød) ... read more »
Decorating Cheese Wedding Cakes ... The Paper Way
We were out doing a show recently, and I got into a conversation with someone who was chatting about the cheese. "What do you do?" I asked. "I'm a paper florist", was the reply. Well, as Bee Watson of Wild Hive says herself - "a paper florist? Who even knew that was a job?" read more »
Cheese Wedding Cakes: Three Beautiful Summer Looks
An ongoing project in 2017 is to give our 'off the peg' cheese wedding cakes fresh new looks. To do that we're being helped by the very talented Kate Bainbridge from Simply Flowers, and last week Kate and I turned our attention to another three of the cakes: Haytor Rocks, Tintagel Castle and Corfe Castle. read more »
Inspirational Sharpham's Latest: Washbourne
All about my recent trip down to Sharpham cheese. I was there to learn about their latest cheese - Washbourne - but along the way I found out a bit more about the chap who runs the show. And as always when up close to cheese-making and the clever people who do it, I came away inspired and slightly in awe ... read more »
Ticklemore And The Pinker-Than-Average Quiche
Lucy and Alex Foley are the sort of bold people who leap straight from one life into a completely different one! In their case this meant leaving jobs as a walking guide in Italy and a factory production consultant and taking on the lease of the Guardhouse Café on Berry Head in Devon. The café is keen to use local ingredients as much as possible, and naturally, our wonderful Westcounry cheese is a key part of that. I visited on a stunning spring day to watch chef Danny (top left) make this beautiful pink-tinged quiche featuring Ticklemore goats' cheese ... read more »
Introducing Cornish Kern ... And A Chance To Win Some
In The Beginning ... there was Cornish Yarg, made by Lynher Dairy. Very successful, and you could fairly descibe it as a modern classic. Now, it's taken Lynher a long, long time to produce a follow-up, but Cornish Kern is finally here. And my goodness it's been worth the wait! read more »
My Favourite Bread: The Grant Loaf
In the early 1990s I had a neighbour called Lottie. And Lottie used to make this amazing wholemeal bread - bread which was quite unlike anything I'd had before. It was wholemeal but quite airy: not at all solid. The texture was unusual - you couldn't make breadcrumbs with it - but above all it had a lovely flavour. She taught me the recipe, and I've been making it ever since ... read more »
Arancini!
Arancini are deep-fried rice balls with melted cheese in the middle ... and just describing it, you already know they're going to be good! Originally this Italian speciality was a way of using up leftover risotto - perhaps performing a similar function to our own pasty, i.e something a working man could take out to have for his lunch. Our recipe, by Hillside's Jay Allan, offers a slight spin on tradition: out goes mozzarella, in comes two great Somerset cheeses. The result is, frankly, hard to resist. read more »
The Fondue Revival Starts Here
Recently in The Cheese Shed we've become slightly obsessed about fondue. Now - full disclosure: I had never tried it, and in fact had rather pigeon-holed it as a rather dated 70s thing. But it turns out that fondue is having a bit of a moment, being rediscovered. read more »
Ten Years Of ... The Cheese Shed & Its Customers
I spent a really pleasant hour or so the other day updating the customer feedback on the site - pleasant because we do get a lot of very positive comments, and on that page, headed 'what our customers say', you can read feedback going back to 2010. As I read through them, it occurred to me that this area - customer service - is one we can be proud of, and ought to trumpet! So here goes. Parp! read more »
Meet The Magnificent Seven!
Behind each beautifully crafted cheese we sell there's a name and a face. Because in our world cheese doesn't roll off a production line in some space-age Cheese Production Facility. It hasn't been dreamed up by marketing people or focus groups, and it's very unlikely that any flip charts have been involved. No, our cheese is made by people - by individuals - who love what they do and what they make. read more »
Great British Cheese Awards
It was an exciting day last week as I headed up to London for the announcement of the Great British Cheese Awards. We were finalists in the 'Best Speciality Cheese Retailer' category, and up against some pretty stiff competition. I arrived at the St Pancras Rennaissance Hotel to find some great names from the artisan cheese scene all waiting to find out who the winners were ... read more »
Let's Hear It For The Chutney Makers, And One In Particular
Never apologise for liking cheese and chutney! At The Cheese Shed we absolutely love to add great chutneys and pickles to our lovely cheese - and today the spotlight is on one of the very clever makers that we work with: Clare Gault of Clare's Preserves. Oh! And there's a special offer running, if you don't hang around ... read more »
The Sue Proudfoot Story
Sue had done a bit of everything - taking free range eggs around Bude in a pushchair, milk churn painting, special needs work, sheep breeding ... then one day, in the late 90s, she turned to cheese. And I suppose that's when she found her vocation. ... read more »
Autumn Cheese Cakes: The Gold Standard
An autumn wedding is a a great opportunity to bring out all those gorgeous orange, gold and brown coloured cheeses for a cheese cake. Using our unique Cakebuilder tool you can select rich-coloured cheeses like Tornegus, Westcombe Red and Quicke's Oak-Smoked Cheddar - as seen here - or choose one of our off-the-peg cakes with the right sort of colouring. Then just decorate accordingly for the perfect autumn look! read more »
Inside Culture: Your Guide To The New Service
We've offered a type of subscription for years, but began to think there was something else we could do. Something a bit more flexible, a bit less 'one-size-fits-all'. Hence - after a prolonged period maturing here in Bovey Tracey - the arrival of Culture. So what is it and how does it work? read more »
The New Hampers: Our Top End Just Got ... Topper
Introducing our five new 'top of the range' hampers: Isca, Lulworth, Heligan, Plenty and Abundance ... read more »
Our Christmas Boxes: Hows & Whys
For many of our customers, the Cheese Shed's Christmas cheese gift boxes are firm favourites which they return to again and again. In this post I explain how they work. read more »
Smarts: Great Cheese Keeps Rolling
Monday's Bank Holiday saw this year's annual outbreak of Total And Utter Madness in Gloucestershire with the famous cheese rolling down Cooper's Hill. Every year many thousands turn up to see the competitors run, jump, slide, fall and roll (but mainly fall) down the dauntingly steep slope in pursuit of a speeding wheel of Smart's Double Gloucester weighing about three and a half kilos read more »
Corsica, naked picnicking ... and beards
There's got to be a 'point' to a hamper. In order to work out what should go into one, it helps if you're following an idea. To show you what I mean, here are three new hampers based around three different ideas: Corsica, naked picnicking ... and beards. read more »
new cheeses for Summer 2016
We're bringing in three new soft cheeses to fit in beautifully with long hot afternoons, days out and picnics on the beach. Coming from three great artisan dairies in Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall, we know they all have terrific provenance, and not only are they very different from one another, but each brings something distinctively new to our shelves. read more »
The Not-So-Humble Cheese Sandwich
This week is British Sandwich Week, so we had the idea of asking four of our friends on the local food scene in Bovey Tracey to create a sandwich based around some of our cheese. It almost started badly ... read more »
A visit to Nethercott Farm
A while back, we handed a cheque for £1064 to Tessa Stone, who runs the inspirational charity Farms For City Children. Tessa and I thought it would be great for me to visit Nethercott Farm in north Devon - it's one of three farms they run, and the original home of the charity which was founded by writer Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare in 1974. It was a great trip ... read more »
Further Off The Beaten Track: What Are Your Favourites?
One of our key interests has always been to explore our region and find those great cheeses which you can't pick up on any old deli counter. Over the years we've driven the length and breadth of the Westcountry meeting cheese makers, finding out about them and what they do and, most improtantly, discovering what it is they make. Now we'd like your help. read more »
Cheese Plus Wedding: The Perfect Partners
Well, we had an important family wedding on Saturday where my lovely nephew Ben got married to the even lovelier Nidhi. Susie and I gave the pair a cheese wedding cake, and actually on this occasion the cheese cake shared top billing with a 'conventional' cake. read more »
Ten Years In The Shed
Unbelievably, it's coming up to 10 years since The Cheese Shed took it's first order (a lady near Honiton ordered some Keltic Gold). A magazine asked me to write a piece explaining what was behind the creation of the business, and why it is the way it is. So here's my look back at 10 years as Bovey's leading shed-based virtual cheesemonger. read more »
Planning a Frawzy, or a Dong-Dong?
We always knew that some people were taking the cheese cake idea and using it for events other than weddings. So there are anniversaries, leaving parties, birthdays - all sorts of 'do' where cheese might take centre stage, and where presenting it in the form of a cheese cake might add to the fun. read more »
Spring Lambs
Spring ... lambs .... a new sheeps' milk cheese ... and a free giveaway to take us into April! Plus - another great cheese returns. read more »
Simply Beautiful: A Cheese Cake for Spring
Well, we're on the cusp of Easter, and it's almost possible to believe Spring is around the corner. So I whisked five cheeses up the road to brilliant florist Kate Bainbridge of Simply Flowers, stacked them up and asked her and colleague Ellie to produce something quick, effective ... and above all, seasonal. read more »
Easter: Is Cheese The New Chocolate?
Ok, that might be pushing it. But cheese might just be starting to rival chocolate as a focus for food obsessiveness. So with Easter just around the corner we feel that cheese ought to be able to grab a bit of the limelight from the rather tired old chocolate Easter egg. read more »
Calling Mums To Be ... and Vegetarians
When you're expecting you're naturally concerned about what to eat and what not to eat, and we know that one of the things people worry about ... is cheese. So we've gone to the best source of advice - the NHS - to find out what they have to say on the subject, and we've created a gift box following that advice. Plus: we've made things easier for vegetarians! read more »
the new hampers: a competition
We're very pleased with the new hampers that have recently appeared on our shelves. Each one is the result of a great deal of careful thought - trying to think of combinations that really work, a range of varied styles of hamper - in terms of both cheese and accompaniments - and of course a spread of prices. Anyway, to help get the word around about these lovely new collections, we have a competition for you! read more »
New for January 2016!
Now this is one of my favourite things: finding great new things to add to the shelves of the Cheese Shed! For reasons to do with Christmas it's really hard to do this in the last few months of the year; now we're in the calm waters of January, however, there's a bit of space and time. Lovely. So what have we got for you? Well, no new cheese this time - but plenty of everything else ... read more »
Ten Years Of ... Cheese Wedding Cakes
Our ten year anniversary is coming up. Hard to believe, but it was one day in May 2006 that I switched on the computer up in the old blue shed to find that a lady from Honiton had ordered some Keltic Gold. And with that significant birthday coming up, I've been looking back over some key aspects of the business. Cheese wedding cakes are definitely one of those ... read more »
The Parke and Pepperdon Story
The story of two cheeses which have appeared in our Christmas boxes over the last few years, Pepperdon in 2013 and 2014, Parke in 2015. Made specially for us, you haven't been able to buy them anywhere else. This is how they came about ... read more »
On the First Day of Christmas ...
We had fun making this! Our version of The Twelve Days of Christmas has, well, a bit more cheese in it that you'd find in the regular version. We gathered together several cheesemongers and some more people who were passing The Cheese Shed at the wrong time, grouped them around the old harmonium and this is what happened. read more »
The Connoisseurs' Collection
One of the things we've always been interested in is finding really good cheeses from our region which either have something unusual about them, or are not widely available - or both. These are what I call 'great cheeses from off the beaten track' ... read more »
The Christmas Cake Goes Cheese
Given that we've been busy sending out cheese cakes to the nation's weddings for years, it was only a matter of time before we thought of extending the idea to other celebrations. So take a look at this seasonal red-white-and-green beauty: a stack of six gorgeous cheeses guaranteed to cheer up any Christmas table! read more »
Westcountry Christmas Cheese
There just has to be cheese at Christmas. I know it. You know it. And because our big thing is telling the world about the great cheeses from this region, with Christmas approaching we want to say: our cheeses can give you everything you need for the festive season. More than any other part of the UK, the West is synonymous with dairying, and when it comes cheese types, well - we've got them all! So here's our guide to creating that perfect Westcountry Christmas cheeseboard. read more »
The Cornish Gouda Story
A post about my trip to Talvan Farm near Looe, which proves to be a little outpost of the Netherlands in south-east Cornwall. I meet the rather amazing Giel Spieling who makes an authentic and exceptional gouda, along with parents Joost and Anne-Marie who run the farm. In the course of a trip round the dairy and lunch in the farmhouse kitchen (complete with strange Dutch apple syrup!) I learn all about how Giel and his Cornish Gouda kept one more struggling dairy farm from going under ... read more »
