Ultimate Guide to British Cheese & UK Cheese Alternatives

A sheep's milk cheese made with milk from the flock at Sheaf House Farm just up the road in Gloucestershire. Made only seasonally from late March, Bibury comes to life in Autumn. Classic notes of meadow flowers and hay along with white chocolate and a fondant texture that is very appealing.

A scintillating 9-month aged gouda style cheese. 

If there was ever a Goldilocks gouda, then this is it. Just young enough to be supple, buttery, nutty sweet and unbelievably moreish, yet old enough to have developed a slightly weathered earthiness and rich complexity. We reckon this tastes like liberally buttered jacket potato skins. Oh, and finish is a joy to behold, long, sweet and delightful.

To top it off Swift Reserve pairs perfectly with coffee (yes, coffee). Transport yourself to the Med and enjoy a wedge of cheese with your morning caffeine. Keeping you fuller for longer and tasting shockingly good, it'll soon become part of your breakfast routine. Exclusive to cheesegeek.

Look out for the Swift Black coming soon to one of London's most exciting coffee specialists!

Mature, and not in a dull, doesn't like to leave the house way. Quicke's Mature is just fully developed. Quicke's the makers date back to 1540s so they know how to make goooood cheese. Handcrafted using grass-fed cow milk, this well rounded cheddar is typically matured for 12-18 months (hence the name) and brings you a variety of flavours from brothy to buttery to freshly mown grass and baked potato flavours. Always with the characteristic cheddar tang.

British cider-washed soft cheese

An unforgettable soft cheese, washed in cider. 

A testament to British cheesemaking, and a nod to continental cheesemaking. Washington is a washed rind cheese destined for great things. When slightly younger, the flavours are fresher and crisper, with just a hint of fruitiness. Ripened on, it develops deep, savoury, meaty flavour, a bit like those famous continental pongers like Epoisses. However, the cider wash brings an astonishing fermented fruity funk, balancing the savoury flavours perfectly, all playing out amidst the most tantalising creamy, decadent, luxurious texture. A modern take on history, and a cheese for the ages.

Designed to be eaten as a young cheese, Cornish Blue is a very different product from traditional English blue cheeses. Its flavour is mild and creamy, with a dense texture and buttery richness, instead of the ‘salty tang’ common of other traditional blue cheeses it has a gentle sweetness.

**Just voted 8th best cheese in World** One of the few remaining Red Leicester cheeses made in Leicestershire, Rutland Red is made in a special dedicated cheese room at Long Clawson Stilton makers. This beaut is so buttery and nutty sweet with a finish reminiscent of a creme brulee and a striking deep red colour that is unmistakable on a cheeseboard making it a firm favourite at cheesegeek. We're not the only ones to think so as Rutland Red just won 8th best cheese in the world (over 5,200 entries!) at the most prestigious 2025 World Cheese Awards. Red Leicester is a classic on any cheeseboard and is also one of our top picks to cook with, Cauliflower Cheese we're looking at you!!

From Lynher Dairies, the makers of Cornish Yarg and Garlic Yarg, we welcome Cornish Kern—a stonker of a cheese. This beaut is off the chart with flavour. Encased in black wax, it is made in the style of a Gouda, however, the utilisation of Alpine starter cultures gives the cheese multiple dimensions. It has a real fruity twang, something like from an old sweet shop, except cheesy. Think exotic dried fruits, salted caramel, toasted hazelnuts and almonds, and although savoury, it simply tempts and teases you with a little bit of nutty buttery sweetness. All the flavours just linger beautifully in your mouth for the perfect amount of time. Its crumbly, crisp and slate-like texture simply arouses one's senses to another planet. An absolute worldy cheese....literally.

King Stone Dairy's longest aged, largest cheese. Originally conceived as a way to capture the sweet complexity of Summer pastures, Burford is now made year round and reflects the seasonality of the milk at Manor Farm. Flavours of charcuterie, hazelnut and hints of tropical fruit.

A bold soft cheese inspired by the wild beauty and legend of Bodmin Moor. Named after the mystical Dozmary Pool said to be the resting place of King Arthur’s Excalibur, it carries the same sense of drama and heritage.

It has been developed as a richer, more flavourful evolution of the Cornish Camembert, Dozmary is oozy, buttery, and bursting with character.

Crozier Blue is an Irish sheep's milk cheese modelled loosely on a Roquefort, that has a rich, full and well-rounded flavour. It is gently salty with a distinctly rich creamy texture, offset by a touch of spice.

Made at Curlew Dairy by husband and wife Ben & Sam, Yoredale (formerly Old Roan) represents one of the only truly traditional, raw milk Wensleydale cheeses still made in the UK. As well as being a stonker of a Wensleydale, we were rather captured by the Yoredale's journey. The milk travels a whole 5 metres (or 500cm) from milking parlour to processing room. Then, having been matured for 3-4 months it makes its way to you...via us! Unlike block Wensleydale, the manual, handmade, small batch nature of this traditional clothbound Wensleydale results in so much more complexity. It has the tell tale bite in the centre, but carries an incredible stoney, mineral earthiness closer to the rind, where you also start getting the most wonderful breakdown in the cheese. There are more hidden themes here than The Matrix, and it is a great nod to traditional cheesemaking

Along with Westcombe, Pitchfork, and Montgomery’s, Keen's is one of the last traditional raw milk artisan Somerset Cheddars. This is due to the fact the criteria are so much stricter than those for West Country Farmhouse Cheddars. The production process uses raw untreated milk from their grass-fed herd, with pint starters rather than powder, traditional animal rennet, and a clothbound maturation of at least 12 months.

The result is a strong, tangy cheddar with a mellow depth of flavour, occasionally blueing throughout. A standout traditional cheddar that is keeping its place firmly in the classic cheese world.

If Cheese = Xmas and Xmas = Vacherin then you could be forgiven for assuming Xmas would be cancelled this year due to LSD (not that one) and its impact on supply of Vacherin this year.

But fortunately, thanks to a lesser known but equally mighty British cheese called Rollright, Xmas might just be saved after all.Made in Gloucestershire, it is wrapped in spruce imported from the continent, just the same as is used on traditional Vacherin, and it is made with milk from a single herd of rare breed cows that actually feed on grass even through the winter.

It is great baked, equally great spooned, but crucially it will give you everything you've come to know and love about a Vacherin, and arguably more.

Rollright. Saving Christmas 2025

The heavyweight of all cheeses, Santa's favourite cheese, and Christmas on a plate... it's Stilton.

After months of blind-taste tests, we settled on Long Clawson as our Stilton of choice. But don't just take our word for it, Long Clawson won Super Gold at the 2021 World Cheese Awards, effectively crowning it the World's Best Stilton.
With it's beautiful blue veins (yes we're calling them beautiful) and bold flavour, we're so glad there's Stil-tons of this cheese in our fridge.

Blake Bowden (cheesemaker extraordinaire) at St Jude has developed the divine St Helena, using raw Montbeliarde milk from the herd at Fen Farm. St Helena has an inviting, supple texture so reminiscent of a classic St Nectaire/Tomme. It is unmistakably rich, with milky and nutty sweet vibes that just keep you coming back for more. But, the washed rind, and the raw milk bring another dimension beyond that. It has those farmy, tangy notes that catch your attention, earning respect as well as delectation. Take a Bow-den, Blake (yikes).

A classic hard cheese with aromatic spiciness and a strong flavour - a true mountain cheese which is also well suited to a creamy fondue.

Village Maid are cheesemakers that just know what they are doing... they make the wonderful Wigmore, Waterloo and Spenwood. Winner of best cows milk cheese at the recent Artisan Cheese Awards, Maida Vale is made in a similar style to Waterloo, except it is washed during maturation in IPA. So whilst the cheese is inherently buttery, creamy and rich on account of using Guernsey cows (notoriously creamy milk), the IPA brings into the mix a nice little tangy punchy kick that just keeps you thinking. As with all cheeses like this, the majority of that kick will come from the rind, so you can compare the taste of the centre cheese vs the rind...quite a difference!

This is the perfect blue cheese for those who want complexity but not the sharp saltiness, minerality or general strength of a Stilton or bolder blue cheese. Cashel Blue is more soft-honey than nutty, and has little salty sharpness with almost no minerality to speak of compared to a Barkham Blue for example. The finish is super clean with just a hint of saltiness at the end. What it all adds up to, is a scenario where some of the more subtle flavours aren't scared to come out and say hi... honey, some hazelnut and straight up creamy goodness.