Cheese has a very long history in Britain. Farmhouse or "artisan" cheeses are more 'traditional'.

Artisan cheese-makers use traditional methods of fabrication but do not use artificial additives. They use milk from their own animals and they control the process of cheese-making completely. Their animals often eat grass. This produces very good quality milk. Many traditional cheese-makers choose not to pasteurise their milk. They think that unpasteurised milk gives cheese a special flavour.

Artisan cheese-makers often choose rare or native animals for the milk. This gives variety in flavour. The choice of specific animals and grass result in a particular regional characteristic to the cheese.

The traditional cheese-maker never hurries the process, and gives their cheese the right length of time to mature. Artisan cheeses change with the seasons, according to the grass the animals eat, and the weather. They adjust the process to the milk they have, often very small adjustments according to different seasonal conditions.

Artisan cheese-makers offer a handmade product. They pay attention to every process for the best result. An artisan cheese can have a different taste every month.

There are many regions around Britain famous for a specific kind of cheese - For example Stilton, comes from Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire or Derbyshire, or Cheddar, from Somerset.

Popular British cheeses

Cheshire & Lancashire (North-West)
Cheddar (South-West)
Stilton & Red Leicester (Midlands)
Wensleydale (Yorkshire)
Double & Single Gloucester (Gloucestershire)
Caerphilly (Wales)

Adapted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/education/betsie/parser.pl