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Enjoy English Cheese in Bath
If there is a food associated with Somerset, it has to be cheese and there is plenty of it to be found in Bath and the surrounding area.
The Fine Cheese Company on Walcot Street stocks 150 varieties of which two thirds are British. There are plenty of opportunities for sampling and the cheese shop has its own cafe next door. Paxton and Whitfield, with no less than three Royal Warrants to their name, have a shop in John Street offering a vast array of cheeses and related merchandise.
At the start of the twentieth century there were some 3500 traditional farmhouse cheddar cheese makers but today the figure has dwindled. Cheddar was typically produced as a collaborative effort with farmers pooling their milk to make the cheese. The objective was to create a large cheese using up surplus milk and cheddar was one of the hardest cheeses so it has longevity. Cheddar has been in production for eight hundred years and the largest cheese ever made in 1839 was for Queen Victoria when a half-ton cheese with a circumference of nine feet was produced.
The Bath Soft Cheese Company produces hand-made cheese from their own herd. Bath Soft Cheese is a full fat soft cheese that is white mould ripened and square in shape and at least one pound in weight. The cheese dates back to Admiral Lord Nelson who was sent one by his father in 1801. Named after the parkland where the herd sometimes graze, Kelston Park is also white mould ripened but round in shape. Bath Blue and the Wyfe of Bath are other popular cheeses.
Somerset cheese is a delight to enjoy on its own, and you will often find it on the cheese boards at many of the restaurants in Bath. Ask for details of local cheeses on the menu at any of the traditional English restaurants.
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