A Portrait of British Cheese: A Celebration of Artistry, Regionality and Recipes

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It also goes behind the scenes, looking at aspects of the industry and cheesemaking process that are often unsung or unseen, to show what makes each cheese unique. From Lincolnshire Poacher to Stichelton (the original Stilton), Britain's own Brie in the form of Baron Bigod from Suffolk, to Brefu Bach sheep's milk cheese from Snowdonia and Appleby's Cheshire cheese from the heart of rural Shropshire, this is a unique journey through photos, essays and recipes, revealing the joys and challenges of a life in cheesemaking. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

The countryside is where I find most of my inspiration for writing, photographing, curating and, well, eating! Angus Birditt's beautiful book is a celebration of artisan and farmhouses cheeses of the British Isles. Over time, I had created a treasure trove of words and photographs (by this point I had found a camera to snap away with! The book is rich with information and stunning photography, making it a beautiful addition to any coffee table. What I found fascinating about artisan cheese is how many different varieties you can have from the same initial product, milk (which, of course, is so complex in itself).

Farming – as many farmers and farmhouse cheesemakers are finding out – is arguably the most important stage in relation to the health of the land, animals and the consumers.

Farmhouse cheese certainly does this; it’s a synergy between the soil on which the pasture grows, the animals that graze, the quality of milk produced and the maker using the milk to produce cheese. Several are trying to be self-sufficient, growing as much as they can on the farm and reducing expensive inputs like imported grain or soya to feed their animals.

This is a beautiful book celebrating iconic British cheesemakers that transports you across the British Isles with stunning photography and stories of culture, history and families. Through a selection of thirty cheesemakers (including Caws Teifi Cheese ) and their cheeses, I hope to show how British artisan cheese is profoundly connected to the land, farm animals and people involved in making it.The UK farmhouse cheese industry has faced its biggest challenges in recent years, with the Covid-19 pandemic forcing many small cheesemakers out of business. With A Portrait of British Cheese, I wanted to celebrate the excellence of cheese in the British Isles. An exploration of the people, processes, stories and histories behind the incredible cheese made in the British Isles, A Portrait of British Cheese is a beautiful, thoughtful book that charts 30 farmhouse cheesemakers around the UK.

Ultimately, Our Isles is a platform to explore and appreciate subjects like artisan and regional food, nature, rural history and heritage. In his book he visits and documents the food, people and places dedicated to the production, enjoyment and preservation of time-honoured processes and techniques that make up the unique landscape that is British cheese.I loved how these cheeses were not only a wonderful, delicious food product but also an instrument to express heritage, tradition and history. I can’t wait to try all the recipes in the book - Stichelton ice cream with candied apples is first on my list! I loved that these cheeses were not only a wonderful, delicious food product but also an instrument to express heritage, tradition and history. Angus has captured it all so beautifully in his photos and words and Lilly’s illustrations are perfect as always. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.