The Cheese Shed

As well as my love of chocolate, I am also utterly obsessed with cheese!! It must be the French in me....the stinkier the better but I do also love mild cheeses. The only cheese I can't stand is goats cheese! No offence to goats but the smell alone makes me gag and don't get me started on the taste!!

My parents recently visited me from France and they always bring me two of my favourite French cheeses, Camembert & Maroilles. I love so many different kinds of French cheese and am ashamed to say I dont know many English cheeses, other than Cheddar, Stilton, Stinking Bishop....I can't really say I've tried many others.

I know English cheese is good enough to rival the French so wanted to place an order of several selections and have a cheese & wine party with my parents...how very civilised of moi!!

I came across The Cheese Shed online whilst researching and instantly fell in love with their website. There are so many cheeses to choose from and each described exceptionally well with a history of how the cheese came to be made, so you really know what you're getting when selecting what you want.

I was a little overwhelmed with which cheeses to select (I literally had about 15 cheeses in my basket!!) so I e-mailed Ian who was ever so helpful and he made some suggestions for me based on the type of cheeses I love and wanted to purchase.

I decided to order:

• Quickes Vintage - 24 month matured cheddar.
• Little Ryding - is a soft cheese with a creamy texture and rich, deep flavour.
• Cornish Blue - designed to be eaten as a young cheese. This is moist, sticky and Gorgonzolaish.
• Francis - supple & rich flavoured. This is a very pungent cheese with a sticky rind.
• Morn Dew - soft, springy cheese with a sticky, red-orange rind.

The packaging was great and I loved that it came with a letter detailing each cheese. The communication from when you place your order, to delivery is perfect.

Now for the important stuff....what we all thought of each cheese!!...

We are utterly in love with all 5 of the cheeses! Honestly, I thought I'd died and gone to cheese heaven!! Why the English do not market their cheese I will never know, would really give the French are run for their money!

The cheddar is by far the best I have ever had. The flavour  is slightly woody and the texture was just perfect.

The Cornish Blue was like a moist, creamy version of Stilton, It was so devine!

Francis reminded me of the French cheese "Livarot"...which is one of my favourite cheeses so I fell instantly in love with this one. This cheese smells pungent so I knew it would be love at first sight!

Mont Dew is a soft cheese with such amazing flavour. It's not a strong smelling cheese but it has a mild but very flavoursome taste. Loved this one!

Little Ryding looks like a Camembert but it's milder but still tastes really good. I'm not sure whether it has the consistency to go all gooey like a well done Camembert does but who cares??? When a cheese tastes this damn good it doesn't need to!

From left to right: Quickes Cheddar, Cornish Blue, Mont Dew, Little Ryding & Francis

I will most definitely be ordering from The Cheese Shed again and trying out some new cheeses!

I am off to Normandy next month to visit my Mamie so will be taking some English cheeses for her to try out!

If you would like to view their website it is: www.thecheeseshed.com

Disclaimer: I would like to add that these cheeses were not given to me, I paid for these myself and I have not been paid to review their products.