Made by Jamie Montgomery; Steve Bridges; Tim Griffey
North Cadbury, Somerset
As well as making world class cheddar, the Manor Farm houses an orchard whose apples are picked by Harry Darby and made into the Gimlet Cider that we sell in our shops.
Cheddar has been made at Manor Farm since 1911, where today the milk from the 200-strong herd of Friesian cows is used exclusively for making Cheddar. Jamie Montgomery takes a measured approach to modernisation, changing only the factors that he is confident will not compromise the quality of the cheese. As well as the time-consuming method of 'cheddaring' – the cutting, stacking and turning of the curds by hand to drain the whey away – Montgomery's uses a traditional 'pint' starter (as opposed to the powders favoured by industrial cheesemakers) and an old, slow peg mill. Each wheel is wrapped in muslin cloth and rubbed with lard before being stowed on the wooden shelves of the cellar for between 12 and 18 months, during which time they are carefully turned and tended. Once upon a time, all this was standard practice; today Montgomery's is one of only a handful of Cheddars left in the county to be made using these traditional techniques.
Every other month, two or three members of our buying team will visit Manor Farm in order to select the wheels we wish to sell at Neal's Yard Dairy. Alongside Jamie Montgomery, we'll carefully taste all the cheese made over the course of that month and select those wheels we wish to sell. We've been working with Montgomery's Cheddar for many years and we draw upon that experience when we're selecting cheeses to best satisfy the broad tastes of our various customers. The wheels that we choose are set aside and continue to age at the farm until they are ready to be sold.