‘You can eat a different UK cheese 365 days a year’

“In the past we’ve had the industrial block cheddar but now the small micro-producer is expanding our ranges of cheeses, including continental ones and experimental cheeses,” he said.

“We’ve got 20 classes here of different types and it’s wonderful to see this blossoming of the British cheese scene.”

Mr O’Callaghan said the entries at this year’s awards had come from across the UK and Ireland.

“The French boast that they can eat a different cheese every day of the year and in the British Isles, we can eat a different cheese from a different cheese-maker every day of the year, the variety is enormous,” he said.