Broughton Hall Dairy

Cheesemaking began for Emily in just 2020. As the pandemic hit and the country went into lockdown, Emily found herself tinkering on the hob at home, like many others. As well as the standard banana bread and sourdough loaves, Emily started making cheese and very quickly discovered both a natural skill and a love for the process.   

She got her first cheesemaking gig at Suffolk Farmhouse Cheese, where she worked initially just for one day a week alongside her main job as Estates Manager for The National Trust.   

Head Cheesemaker

Her passion and skill shone through, and it wasn’t long before she became head cheesemaker there.  She quit her day job and stayed for 18 months before setting up Broughton Hall Dairy on the Tydeman family farm in Stonham Aspal, Suffolk.  

Emily at Broughton Hall Dairy

In the time since, she has thrown herself into her new career, attending various courses to develop her technical knowledge, visiting other cheesemakers for inspiration, including Kelly Roddick, Head Cheesemaker at White Lake Cheese and Jonny Crickmore at Fen Farm Dairy. More recently, with the help of her husband Sam, she has converted a redundant farm building into their own small cheeseroom. 

Raw Sheep’s Milk 

Emily’s first cheese “Pyghtle”, (which is an old Suffolk word for small grass enclosure) is a soft lactic cheese made from raw ewe’s milk.   She has always been very focussed on the type and style of cheese she wanted to make.

 Her research had identified a lack of ewes milk cheese in the Suffolk region, whilst the qualities of raw milk were important to her. With this in mind, Emily knew the source of milk had to be very carefully considered and was overjoyed when a local couple were just embarking on a career in sheep farming. This was a serendipitous moment for Emily; not only did the dairy farmers share the same ethos of sustainability and regenerative farming, their methods of keeping the lambs “at foot” for 5-6 weeks until naturally weaned, hit a happy note with her.  

Why unpasteurised?  I wanted to use the milk in its purest form, championing all the wonderful stuff that nature put there.

Soft Lactic Cheese

Next, she knew that she wanted to make a cheese that was a real labour of love, and a soft, lactic cheese with its 24-48 hour make time, ticked that box.    

And so, having had help and support from Neal’s Yard Dairy last year, she is now supplying small batches to the London cheesemongers, as well as Cambridge-based Rennet & Rind, a Suffolk-based wholesaler, Hamish Johnston and local delis.  

LEARNING ZONE Cheesemongers Learning Zone Whether you’re a seasoned Cheesemaker or just starting out, our specialised learning zone will immerse you in multiple cheese styles, flavours and techniques.  

Scaling Up

Emily is currently in the process of scaling up with the recent addition of a second ewe’s milk source and hopes to nearly double her output to up to 400 cheeses a week.  She has been developing a hard cheese, which sits somewhere between a Manchego and an Ossau, and hopes to have that ready for sale by Christmas. 

Why apply for the Grant? 

Having instantly fallen in love with cheesemaking, Emily and Sam have ploughed their life savings into setting up the dedicated cheese rooms in one of the farm buildings at home. Recognising the collaborative and friendly nature of the cheese industry, she welcomes any help to develop her cheese and business further!  

Hear Emily chat to Jenny Linford in her “Slice of Cheese” podcast, sponsored by Peter’s Yard. 

Rachel Holding | Academy of Cheese Writer

Member of the Academy, Rachel loves a good cheese and wine session. Her love of all cheeses, artisanal or otherwise, has grown from her early years of working on the cheese counter at Fortnum & Mason.  She has a personal mission to taste as many cheeses as possible and to encourage this passion in others.