Last year, we shared the first chapters of our Chiswick Cheese Market Grant holders’ stories – the new cheese rooms being built, the first awards won, the steep and exhilarating learning curves of life as a new cheesemaker. This year, we’re back with the next instalment: more cheeses, more awards, more growth, and the same passion that drew each of them to the craft in the first place.

Applications for the 2026 Chiswick Cheese Market Cheesemaker’s Grant are now open. Find out more and apply here.

Jo Shelton — Norfolk & Better (2024 Grant Winner)

Jo’s cheesemaking journey has moved at a remarkable pace since we last spoke. When we featured her a year ago, Jiffler Blue — her semi-hard brined blue — had only just been launched. Since then, it has won Gold at the British and Irish Cheese Awards not once but twice, and at this year’s competition it went one further, taking home Best British Blue. Jo describes the moment as “totally unexpected” and is “absolutely thrilled” — as she should be.

Jo’s impressive range of cheeses, with Britain’s Best Blue, Blue Jiffler, centre

Her range has continued to grow alongside her reputation. Norfolk & Better now produces four cheeses: Jiffler, Jiffler Blue, Breckland Brie (a soft Brie-style cheese), and Norbert (a Camembert-style). All are made in small batches, very much by hand, and sold through a combination of pop-up farm shop, farmers’ markets, and relationships with local delis including Jarrolds and The Norfolk Deli — partnerships Jo speaks warmly about.

A new staff member joining in the coming weeks will allow Jo to increase production and, in her own words, the last few years have involved hard work and long hours — but “the highs have definitely outweighed the lows.” She still loves making cheese. That, perhaps, is what the Grant is really about.

Matt Gue — Adur Valley Creamery (2024 Grant Winner)

When we last caught up with Matt, he was in the thick of lambing season and his purpose-built cheese room — a large barn on the family farm — was almost finished, with just the electrics and plumbing to go. He hoped to be making cheese within a month. That month has long since passed, and the cheese has followed.

Matt has now completed his Academy of Cheese Level Two certification and is selling his first cheese, Cuthman, in local specialist retailers and at farmers’ markets, where it is already attracting serious interest from wholesalers and retailers alike. Going from zero stockists to active wholesale conversations is no small thing in the first year of trading. And the Silver medal awarded to Cuthman at the 2026 British & Irish Cheese Awards is a tangible reflection of that interest.

Reflecting on what the Grant has meant to him, Matt puts it simply: “The Chiswick Cheesemakers Grant has given me access to excellent and relevant educational tools and opened the doors to meet lots of interesting and helpful people in the cheese industry, all of which have shaped my journey.”

Mathew Lloyd — The Rennet Works (2024 Grant Winner)

Mathew Lloyd approaches cheesemaking the way he approaches everything: with curiosity, creativity, and a firm sense of what kind of cheesemaker he wants to be. Despite approaches from major supermarkets, he has no intention of scaling in that direction. Instead, The Rennet Works remains resolutely boutique — offering bespoke cheeses to individual customers and high-end specialist delis, and making things on his own terms.

His range continues to expand in inventive directions: Hallouminati, Shropshire Knight, Kaleidoscope Blue, and the Pixie family of flavour-added fresh cheeses are among his current offerings. Awards have followed: most recently a Gold for Project Blue at the British & Irish Cheese Awards, adding to a growing collection of accolades from both British and international competitions.

Mathew’s impressive haul of awards

Mathew’s story is a reminder that the Grant isn’t just about helping cheesemakers start — it’s about helping them find their identity. The connections made through the Chiswick network, and the confidence that comes from having your work validated by the industry, have shaped not just what he makes but how he thinks about his business.

Catherine Holbrook — The Rare Dairy (2025 Grant Winner)

Catherine is the newest of our grant holders, and her story is only just beginning. Work is currently underway on a dedicated space for cheesemaking and aging at The Rare Dairy — the kind of infrastructure investment that takes time to get right but pays dividends for years to come.

The seasonal rhythms of dairy farming mean that cheese production won’t ramp up until late April or May, when milk volumes begin to increase again. Catherine is patient about this — good cheese cannot be rushed, and neither can the conditions that make it possible. Watch this space: the next time we check in with her, there will be cheese.

Jake Goldstein — Primrose Creamery (2025 Grant Winner)

If Catherine’s story is one of careful preparation, Jake’s is one of early momentum. In the time since receiving the Grant, Primrose Creamery has gone from zero stockists to a growing network spread across the map — you can see exactly where his cheeses are now available on the Primrose Creamery stockist page. For a cheesemaker in their first year, that kind of distribution is a real achievement.

The awards have started coming in too. Jake has already picked up a Silver for Lindley and a Bronze for Eggleston at the British and Irish Cheese Awards, with entries in for the Artisan Cheese Awards and Great Taste still to be judged. There is every reason to think the trophy cabinet will keep filling.

Like Catherine, Jake is still in the early stages of what promises to be an exciting journey. He loved his Level Two studies with Patrick McGuigan, so much so, he is just about to embark on Level Three using the funds from his grant, and is optimistic this will lead to him achieving Master of Cheese accreditation in the future.

With these foundations — the knowledge, the stockists, the competition pedigree, the network the Grant has opened up — firmly in place, the best is certainly still to come.

I’m really enjoying the structured learning side with the Academy. It pushes me out of my comfort zone and I think it’s making me a more rounded cheesemaker.

Jake Goldstein, Primrose Creamery

Dean Storey — Monkland Cheesemakers (2023 Grant Winner)

When Dean took over Monkland Cheesemakers, he inherited both a legacy and a challenge. The cheeses – Little Hereford, Monkland, and Blue Monk – were established and loved, but the customer base had dwindled after the change of hands. Eighteen months on from receiving the Grant, Dean has built that base back from four customers to over forty placing regular orders, with farmers markets at Ludlow, Abergavenny, and Hay-on-Wye among the highlights of his calendar.

This year brought further recognition on the competition circuit: two Silver awards at the 2025 Artisan Cheese Awards for Little Hereford and Blue Monk, alongside a Bronze for Monkland. These aren’t just trophies – they’re validation from respected peers in a field where quality speaks for itself.

A selection of Dean’s range of cheeses

Dean now employs three part-time members of staff and has the support of his family in running the business, a far cry from the early days when, by his own admission, he was “naive” about trying to do everything alone. He’s heading into this season with his maturation room fully stocked – a milestone that felt a long time coming and marks a genuine turning point for the business.

Emily Tydeman — Broughton Hall Dairy (2024 Grant Winner)

Emily Tydeman makes cheese the hard way: raw sheep’s milk, small batches, and a seasonal rhythm dictated entirely by her flock. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Her first cheese, Pyghtle, is a delicate lactic cheese that has already found a devoted following among those who seek out the small number of soft raw milk cheeses still made in Britain. At the end of 2025 she launched her second creation, Nettus — a hard cheese matured at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London — available in very limited quantities between September and Christmas.

Emily’s signature cheese, Pyghtle

The stockist list is growing in quality as well as length. La Fromagerie, one of the most respected cheese retailers in the country, will be stocking Pyghtle this season, alongside a new London wholesaler who will help Emily reach a wider range of retailers. There are no new cheeses in the pipeline — her focus is firmly on perfecting what she already makes, and on growing her flock to increase production. When the milk is there, the cheeses will follow.

Millie Preece, The Dairy Door (2023 Grant Winner)

Millie’s update is coming shortly

Could the Grant Be the Start of Your Story?

Reading the updates above, a few things stand out. The awards are impressive, but they’re not really the point. What runs through every one of these stories is something harder to measure: confidence, community, and the knowledge that you’re not doing it alone.

The Chiswick Cheese Market Cheesemaker’s Grant exists to give new and emerging cheesemakers access to the education, mentoring, and industry connections that can make the difference between a dream and a business. If you’re in the early stages of your cheesemaking journey — or ready to take that first step — this could be the moment.

Applications for the 2026 Chiswick Cheese Market Cheesemaker’s Grant are now open to cheesemakers based in the UK who have been operational for up to 18 months.

Find out more and apply here →

The Chiswick Cheese Market Cheesemaker’s Grant is a joint collaboration between the Academy of Cheese and Chiswick Cheese Market, and funded by the Market, which takes place on the third Sunday of every month.