Speciality Food September 2025

specialityfoodmagazine.com 45 rawmilk, we do give lots of tips of how to use what you can get from the supermarket. I have to say, people are shocked when they taste our milk. Everyone thinks goats’ milk will be disgusting but it’s not – it’s fresh and clean, that’s one of the biggest surprises for them.” TEESDALE CHEESEMAKERS, COUNTY DURHAM EXPERIENCE: CHEESEMAKING, CHEESE CAFE, TOURS AND TASTINGS, GLAMPING The seed for cheese experiences at Teesdale was planted during the Covid years, says Allison Raper, who founded the business with her husband Jonathan. “During Covid, when people couldn’t travel and we didn’t have our glamping lodges open, we did tastings via Zoom. We sent out boxes and held online tastings and cheese parties. It just felt like that’s what people wanted to do – to have experiences – and that’s continued.” Both Allison and Jonathan feel consumers are done with “stuff”. “You certainly come to a point in your life where you don’t really need anything and don’t want to consume as much. Even young people are feeling that way. When we opened the lodges, also having our cheese cafe, we felt like we could create this hub for cheese – it’s the core of our business and it felt natural to expand from cheesemaking to tours and tastings. Also, doing this has made us a destination for cheese. We’re in the middle of nowhere. You wouldn’t just weekends, to “impart our knowledge and help people realise they can make cheese at home using everyday equipment”, Suzie says. A typical day begins with a hot drink and introductions, before cracking on with the business of heating the farm’s raw goats’ milk to pasteurisation, giving it time to cool down for use later. “Then we kick off with a feta and get that going, moving onto a halloumi. At the end of the day everyone ends up with a feta, halloumi, chevre, ricotta and labneh. We swap and change between the different stages throughout the day, stopping for a break at lunchtime with a talk on our cheeses, going back into cheesemaking afterwards.” In the early afternoon visitors experience a tutored tasting of the farm’s cheeses, before heading home with a “party bag” of what they’ve made and a recipe card. “We do weekends as well because we have accommodation,” adds Suzie. “You can do a goat experience on the Friday, cheesemaking on Saturday, and goat yoga on a Sunday! We offer that one weekend a month.” Uptake, she says, has been “phenomenal”. “A group of friends who came recently adored it. They didn’t expect what they got and howmuch food was included. They thought they were getting a light lunch –my husband doesn’t ‘do’ light lunches!” Showing people how to use what they’ve already got in their kitchens at home to make cheese is a big part of the appeal, Suzie thinks. “They love knowing they can use the skills they’ve learnt straight away. We often get pictures frompeople of what they’ve done, and we encourage that.” Being able to try something different also feeds into the cheesemaking experience’s popularity. “People want to get out and do new activities, and they want to know the provenance of their food,” Suzie explains. “It’s dead simple to make halloumi if you know how. It can be made on a Wednesday and eaten the next day. Although we use come here for a cup of coffee!” Interestingly, despite being busy, Allison says they’ve cut back on staff at the farmbecause they personally felt they were losing touch with the customers. “We’ve pulled it right back so we can be properly involved, doing a tour and tasting one Saturday a month, apart from the glampers who can book one during their stay.” Visitors learn how cheese is made, and go through a tutored cheese and food pairing with a glass of wine. “That’s really nice because, as a consequence, people go home better informed how to put a cheeseboard together in terms of balance. The tasting used to be a separate thing, but since we’ve put it together we the tour, we’ve doubled our sales.” Those who really really adore cheese will sign up for the maker’s cheesemaking days where activities include pricking a blue cheese, and Walk series, with a choice of three starting points in London – Chelsea, The City, and the West End. “What I’m doing,” he explains, “is taking people on an expertly curated and expertly guided tour. We meet in a really nice venue where I buy you coffee or tea, then I give you your own personal cheese-tasting kit – a bright yellow cold bag, a small cheeseboard, knife, wet wipes, a bottle of water, pack of Peter’s Yard crackers, waxed paper and a copy of my British Cheese Notebook.” The tour then heads off, visiting four to five cheesemongers or delis, where visitors can try samples before Steve buys some cheese - “always British, with only one exception” - before sitting down nearby, cutting up and communally sharing the purchases, as he talks about each variety. “Along the way there’s a lot of history and background. So at Neal’s Yard Dairy I can explain how John Cleese was one of the first people to go there. We walk past where weddings in Bridgerton took place, and where the first iron curtain was installed in London” he adds, saying that people enjoy his knowledge not only of the areas they visit, but of the cheeses and cheesemakers. “None of it is scripted. It’s just me talking. I can tell people about how cheese judging works, why one cheese is considered better than another, why Shropshire Blue is orange. I’m confident I can answer prettymuch anything!” Held in small groups, the tours are two hours long, and a maximum of two miles. They end at a final venue where everyone can tuck into a cheeseboard with a drink. The experiences attract lots of tourists from outside of London, as well as food enthusiasts, Steve says. “I love it. I love the fact people will learn something new on every walk. I see it as taking friends out to share my knowledge rather than being a tour guide.” ABBEY FARM COTTAGE, NORTH YORKSHIRE EXPERIENCE: CHEESEMAKING Suzie and Jonty Birrell-Graymoved to the North YorkMoors in 2019 to pursue their dream of making artisan cheeses and farming sustainably. Today, as well as making award- winning Rosedale Goats’ Cheese, they offer cheesemaking days and