Daylesford wins England's Best Cheese Award
We are proud to share that several of the organic cheeses that we make on our Cotswold Farm have won awards at the Artisan Cheese Awards, 2025.
OUR ORGANIC DOUBLE GLOUCESTER HAS BEEN VOTED:
Best Territorial Cheese, Best English Cheese and Reserve Champion in the Organic category.
In addition, our Organic Cheddar received a Silver/Highly Commended Award, as did our Organic Waxed Adlestrop in the Vegetarian category.
Marking a huge achievement and recognition for the work our highly skilled team of cheesemakers, the win is particularly significant as Daylesford was founded with a small herd of dairy cows, which remain at the heart of what we do.
Our Creamery is located little more than 50 steps from the dairy on our Cotswold Farm. The fresh organic milk from our British Freisan and rare-breed Gloucester herds is pumped directly from the milking parlour to our Creamery. A high proportion of the milk goes into making at least five different cheeses for sale in our Farm Shop at any given time.
OUR AWARD-WINNING ARTISAN CHEESEMAKERS
Led by our talented head cheesemaker, Peter Kindel, our team of seven dedicated artisans develop, mould and mature the different cheeses in our Creamery. Honouring the traditional methods of slow cheese making and our organic certification, the process is an artisan craft.
Working with skill, knowledge and meticulous attention to detail, Peter has perfected our cheese recipes. He works closely with his passionate and dedicated team to ensure consistency when each batch is made and to judge when the finished wheels of cheese are ripe and at their best to make the journey from the ageing room in the Creamery to our Cotswold Farm Shop.
WHAT IS DOUBLE GLOUCESTER?
“Double Gloucester is a British farmhouse cheese that was traditionally the market cheese for the region” explains Peter. A full fat, hard cheese, that Peter notes is “often underrated” it is sweeter, milder and creamier than cheddar. Natural annatto gives it its’ orange colour.
Due to its durability and provenance, a Double Gloucester is also the cheese traditionally used to roll down the hill and as a prize in cheese rolling ceremonies.
WHAT MAKES OUR ORGANIC DOUBLE GLOUCESTER SPECIAL?
“It has a lot to do with our organic milk” explains Peter. “The nature of organic milk means it will change throughout the year according to the weather and the behaviour of the herd through the seasons. This cheese was an April batch, made just as the grass had shot up and our cows were excited to go out to pasture after winter and were happy grazing. This combined with our consistent and rigorous approach to the making process, meant that when we tasted this batch of cheese, we just knew it was ‘the one’.”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WIN FOR OUR ORGANIC CHEDDAR
Our Organic Cheddar is one of the best-selling products made in our Creamery. The defining element of cheddar is that the curds are ‘cheddared’ or cut – giving the cheese its name. The curds are stacked and drained when making a Double Gloucester.
Our cheddar is a classic, mature cheese, which is left to ripen for nine to twelve months. The resulting rich, full, developed flavour with a distinctive tang was awarded a Silver/Highly Commended in the Artisan Cheese Awards, 2025.
Of these recent accolades Peter says “It’s been a good year for The Creamery so far. We’ve entered three competitions and achieved awards in all of them. It makes us feel good about what we do. There’s a strong sense of pride in The Creamery.”
