Shropshire-made cheese is named best of British
A cheese made in Shropshire has been named the best of British at this year's national awards.
Staff at Ludlow Food Centre are jumping for joy after Remembered Hills was judged to be the best blue cheese in the country at the British Cheese Awards held in the Cotswolds over the weekend.
It is the creation of cheesemakers Dudley Martin and Paul Bedford, who make seven other cheeses using milk from Friesian Holstein dairy cows which graze on the Earl of Plymouth's Oakly Park estate near the centre.
Dudley said: "It is such a competitive market and there are some amazing dairies throughout Britain that produce over 700 British cheeses.
"To be given an award for best blue cheese is an incredible honour. With over 80 cheeses, the blue category is always one of the hardest to judge and one of the most fiercely contested. I was very fortunate to be involved from the very beginning at the food centre.
"To run my own dairy has been a challenge and a big responsibility but awards like this make all the hard work worth it."
Paul said Remembered Hills was a Stilton-style cheese that actually beat the original to win the award.
Three "proper" Stiltons were entered in the category – it has a Protected Designated Origin (PDO) but other cheese makers are allowed to make versions under other names.
"Remembered Hills is our take on Stilton," Paul said. "We hadn't made blue cheese until we joined the food centre.
"It is a difficult cheese to perfect and we still feel like there is more we can do."
Dudley said he feared it was going to be "impossible" to keep up with demand for their award-winning cheese.
