Wednesday 21st January 2015

Let’s talk about cheese for a change shall we? Let’s flag up one of the market’s strongest points; there is a really great selection of cheese every week at the market!

Throughout the month we are blessed to have Godsell’s Cheeses, Jonathan Crump Cheeses, Bath Soft Cheese, Windrush Valley Goat Dairy, Simon Weaver Organic, Brinkworth Dairy, White Lake Cheeses, Glastonbury Dairies and The Old Cheese Room. That is 9 cheese stalls, each with their own ranges of cheeses; some, like Jonathan Crump (single and double Gloucester Cheeses, 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month), The Old Cheese Room (a Reblochon style cheese and a soft cheese, 2nd Saturday), Bath Soft cheeses, (4 cheeses, 3rd Saturday) and Brinkworth Dairy (Brinkworth Blue, Wotton Bassett Blue, soft fresh curd cheese, Wiltshire Loaf, every Saturday) don’t have a huge range. They keep their range to a small but specialised selection. Others, like Godsell’s (1st, 3rd and 4th Saturday), White Lake Cheeses (2nd, 4th and 5th Saturdays), Windrush Valley Goat dairy (1st and 3rd Saturday) and Simon Weaver Organic (4th Saturday) have a large range of cheeses on offer. White Lake and Windrush specialise in Goat’s cheeses, although White Lake do produce a range of cow cheese too (Morn Dew, Bagborough Brie and Blue Moon). The variety both these stalls offer is amazing with a host of different cheesemaking techniques used to create such  marvels as “White Nancy”, “Rachel” and “Fetish” (White Lake) and Windrush offering yoghurts, cheesecakes and such cheeses as “Dainty Herb” and “Chevre Blanc”.

If you want to buy cheese solely from the 5 valleys you have the option of choosing Jonathan Crump or Godsell’s. Godsell’s offer a wide range of cheeses, many of which are award winners over the years, ranging from the creamy soft “Nympsfield” to the fiery “Cockadilly Chilli” Cheddar and from the “Holy Smoked” to the “Leonard Stanley” Cheddar. With such a range on offer how can any cheese fan not get excited about popping into Stroud on a Saturday morning?