Join us for this special tasting to celebrate the wonderful world of British goats’ cheeses. We want to show you how delicious they are and how different they can be in terms of flavour, texture and appearance. The cheesemakers will talk to you about the cheeses, as well as introduce you to their dairies and their goats!
Order Cheese To Taste Along
To accompany this talk you can order a box of the cheeses being spoken about event from White Lake Cheese for £25.00 (price includes p&p). To order your box please follow this link and ensure that you order by 3pm on Monday 13th May 2024 to get your cheeses in time for the tasting.
Cheeses to taste:
· Eve
· Sinodun Hill
· Mature Goat’s Cheese
· Fresh Goats’ Cheese
This tasting is brought to you by the Milking Goat Association (MGA). The MGA aims to increase awareness and promote the benefits of drinking and using goats’ milk products to consumers to encourage more awareness and consumption. It also aims to challenge consumers’ perceptions around the flavour of goats’ milk products as well as highlight its nutritional values.
Your Hosts
Gary Yeomans, Chairman of the Milking Goat Association
Gary is the chairman of the Milking Goat Association. He has been a dairy goat farmer for over 20 years and his farm is located near to Abergavenny in south Wales. He supplies nearby Abergavenny Fine Foods with his goats’ milk, which is used to make fresh goats’ cheese.
Roger Longman, White Lake Cheese
Roger is a third-generation farmer and cheese making started way back in the 1930s with his grandfather. White Lake’s home is set at Bagborough Farm – just near to the Glastonbury Festival site, in Pylle, Somerset. The milk used to create their wonderful goat’s cheeses is provided by Roger’s own beloved herd – primarily French Alpine goats.
Every cheese created at White Lake is the result of a non-stop whirlwind of experimentation and revolution. They love trying new things, new methods and new recipes, constantly seeking ways to evolve its family of cheeses.
Now producing a plethora of amazing award-winning goat, sheep and Guernsey cow milk cheese; White Lake is a place of constant transformation and creativity where striving for excellence has become the norm. White Lake is a family of like-minded cheese enthusiasts with a passion for creating the best cheese possible.
Rachel Yarrow, Norton & Yarrow
Rachel Yarrow and her husband Fraser Norton decided to become cheese makers in August 2014. This came after a chance reading of an article about a goats’ cheese maker in an old copy of ‘Woman and Home’ magazine left behind in a villa they stayed in on holiday in Sicily. Rachel had been an English teacher for ten years, while Fraser had worked in project management for twenty years, but both of them were looking for a new challenge to inspire them.
Both of them have farming in their family – Fraser’s grandparents had a 200-acre farm in Nottinghamshire, and Rachel’s parents farmed in South Wales in the 1970s, but cheese making and goat dairying are new family traditions. They are both passionate about high standards of animal welfare and sustainability in farming, as well as being part of reviving the British tradition of high-quality artisan cheese making.
Gary Johnson, Operations Director St Helens Farm
With a career spanning over three decades in the dairy industry, Gary is driven by a passion for crafting cheese, liquid milk, and yogurt.
Since 1994, Gary has been a cheesemaker, honing his craft in the creation of various British cheeses including West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Beacon Fell Lancashire, Red Leicester, Double Gloucester, Wensleydale, and Cheshire,
Now Operations Director at St Helens Farm, he continues to channel his expertise and passion into ensuring the seamless functioning of operations and in making sure their cheese is the best it can possibly be.
Yet, amidst the professional milestones and accomplishments, his heart remains tethered to the simple joys of savoring a slice of Crumbly Lancashire atop a cracker, paired with the tang of silverskin pickled onions. Delicious.
About Abergavenny Fine Foods
Where it all started… In 1981 Pam and Tony Craske made the move to Wales with the vision of the ‘good life’ on a Welsh hill farm. On the quest to be self-sufficient Pam sent Tony to the Local Village Market to buy a cow. Lost in translation…Tony returned with six Goats, and zero cows.
The farm became a wash with milk and unable to sell it, Pam went to Abergavenny library where she borrowed a book on cheese making, and that’s where it all began.
The Craskes started to build a substantial and loyal following, after deciding to sell the creamy, fresh goats’ cheese – Pant-Ys-Gawn Farm® at the Local Abergavenny WI Market.
As the following grew so did the product range which finally led to the formation of Abergavenny Fine Foods Ltd in 1987 and we moved from the farm to creamery site in Abergavenny.
We started to supply larger retailers such as Harrods and Fortnum & Mason with branded product and then moved into supermarkets with private label goats’ cheese after winning gold, silver and bronze at the Nantwich Cheese Awards.
We partner with British goat milk farmers to ensure the highest quality milk for our cheese. We have over 30 ears of experience in goats’ cheese making and we still make using a Traditional cheese making process, as when we started back on the Farm.
