2.3 miles

Ford Farm has been making cheddar for over 40 years just down the road on the Ashley Chase Estate in Litton Cheney, They are one of the few remaining traditional farmhouse cheddar makers, producing three quarters of the UK volume. Traditional West Country Farmhouse Cheddar is made to methods and recipes that date back many hundreds of years. They use the highest quality milk, sourced from local, free-range dairy herds that graze the lush pastures of the surrounding Dorset countryside and the process is performed almost exclusively by hand.

Their cheddars take on a surface mould which is entirely natural in the ageing process and is integral to the development of the cheddar. The Cheddars are graded regularly to check their progress. Only when they have achieved optimum flavour, as judged by our in-house graders, will we release them for packing. The surface mould is brushed off, and the bandages are removed. They are then cut into various shapes and sizes.

All of the process is performed by hand by our team of expert cheesemakers, from the turning of the curds to the pressing of the cheddars into cylindrical moulds, to the bandaging of the moulds in cheesecloth.

While maturing, each batch of cheddar is graded regularly to ensure optimum and consistent flavour. Feel free to visit the Farm as they are a very approachable team and definitely full of Lensomy for cheese!