Meet the Producer, we spoke to Kingstone Dairy about their cheese and how it’s made.
A brief history of your company, company values, and where and when it started.
We are a small-scale, quality-focused farmhouse cheesemaking business.
We produce our cheeses by hand using a single herd of organic cow’s milk at Manor Farm Chedworth in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds.
David made his first Rollright back in 2015 and has since become one of the UK’s best cheesemakers, winning awards for his range of five cheeses and seeing his cheeses on some of the best counters in Britain and beyond.
Our focus is on producing cheeses of complexity and quality while authentically reflecting the regenerative farming practices that are behind the fantastic milk we have here on Manor Farm.
Could you tell us a bit about the process behind making your cheese?
Each cheese is made by hand by our small team of cheesemakers. We collect the milk from the parlour every morning and carefully rennet, stir, cut, pour, brine and wash our way through the day. Attention to detail is critical to the success of any cheesemaker, and we are very proud of our team, who pour all their passion and focus into every stage of the make.
What is your bestselling, most-loved product?
Rollright, our spruce-bound washed rind cheese is probably the best known of our cheese, and we see it featuring as a staple in some of the best cheese shops out there. Ashcombe has seen real success in the last couple of years, garnering awards almost from the word go. We, however, love all our cheeses and wouldn’t make them if they didn’t have unique characteristics that give them that little something special.
Are there any particular moments that make you incredibly proud? Have you won any awards, and what are these?
We have won a range of awards. We are probably most proud of our wins at the Artisan cheese awards in 2021, Supreme Champion went to Ashcombe, and at British Cheese Awards in 2022 we also won Supreme Champion for Ashcombe as well as Best British Cheese for Moreton.
Do you have any must-do tips for eating your cheese or specific pairings that you would recommend?
Cheese should always be served at room temperature, not straight from the fridge. We have some lovely pairings mentioned in the resources on our website. Still, probably two of our favourites are a medium dry cider paired with our cider-washed cheese Yarlington and a gently foaming Pet Nat with our Evenlode.
What tips would you give to retailers/delis/food service providers that stock your products? How should it be kept, presented or displayed?
All our cheeses are different, so we believe communication and training are critical to our relationship with the customer. For this reason, we have produced a range of resources that help our customers better understand our cheeses.
We stock their cheeses, including popular Rollright and Supreme Champion Ashcombe.
