British Cheese Awards 2008

Last week saw the announcement of the winners of the British Cheese Awards 2008. It has been a mixed blessing. The wonderful (and local to us) Barkham Blue, made by Sandy and Andy Rose near Wokingham, won no less than three major awards:
Best Blue Cheese
Best English Cheese
Supreme Champion

No mean feet as it was up against over 900 cheeses from all around the British Isles. We knew it was a wonderful cheese. A sweet, spicy blue, deliciously creamy and moreish. The trouble is that now everyone else knows how great it is and we can't get hold of any!

Another of our local specials, the Wigmore, made by Sandy Rose's cousin Anne, at Village Maid Dairies won best soft white. A good day for Berkshire cheese makers! Not such a good day for Berkshire delicatessens now facing a shortage of their favourites!

A full list of the winners can be found at:
http://www.thecheeseweb.com/contentok.php?id=278

and an article on the BBC web site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/7649621.stm