# The Great British Cheese Guide: 30 Cheeses Every Foodie Should Know > From the crumbling tang of a proper Cheshire to the rich, butter-soft depths of a ripe Vacherin-style Tunworth, Britain produces some of the world's finest cheeses. Here are 30 you absolutely must try. *Section: Lifestyle — By James Whitfield — Published January 11, 2026 — 6 min read* Canonical URL: https://dailyjunction.org/lifestyle/uk-cheese-guide-2026 Tags: cheese, food, british food, lifestyle, foodie guide, uk produce, artisan food, dairy ## Key takeaways - Britain is home to more than 700 named cheese varieties, more than France, making it one of the world's great cheesemaking nations. - Protecting traditional regional cheeses through PDO and PGI status has helped revive and sustain artisan production across the UK. - Supporting independent cheesemongers and farmers' markets is the best way to access the finest British cheeses and keep regional traditions alive. # The Great British Cheese Guide: 30 Cheeses Every Foodie Should Know Walk into any decent cheesemonger in Britain and you will find yourself confronted with a truth that surprises most people: this island produces more named cheese varieties than France. Over 700 of them, in fact. Yet the national conversation about cheese still tends to begin and end with Cheddar — a magnificent cheese, certainly, but one that represents only the faintest sliver of what Britain's cheesemakers are capable of. Whether you are building the perfect cheeseboard or simply looking to expand your palate, this guide to 30 essential British cheeses will give you a foundation that any self-respecting foodie should possess. ## The Classics: Cheeses That Built the Nation's Reputation No serious list can begin anywhere other than the giants. **Cheddar** — specifically, West Country Farmhouse Cheddar carrying PDO status — is a world-class hard cheese with a complex, nutty depth that supermarket blocks can only approximate. Seek out a properly aged farmhouse version from Somerset, Devon, Dorset, or Cornwall and you will understand why this style conquered the globe. **Stilton** is another colossus. Made in only three counties — Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Leicestershire — this PDO-protected blue cheese develops its characteristic blue-green veining through careful piercing that allows air to circulate through the paste. A well-matured Stilton has a rich, savoury intensity balanced by a creamy, almost buttery interior. It is a cheese of genuine grandeur. **Red Leicester** deserves more credit than it typically receives. Its vibrant orange colour comes traditionally from annatto, a natural plant dye, and its flavour — mellow, slightly sweet, with a clean finish — makes it one of the most reliably pleasurable cheeses on any board. **Cheshire**, one of England's oldest recorded cheeses, offers something entirely different: a crumbly, open texture and a distinctive salty, slightly acidic character that comes from the natural salt deposits in the county's soil. **Double Gloucester** is smooth, firm, and mellow, with a characteristic richness that sets it apart from its single-county cousin, Single Gloucester, which is lighter and more delicate and holds its own PDO status. **Wensleydale** from North Yorkshire — immortalised, if you needed reminding, by Wallace and Gromit — is a semi-hard, flaky cheese with a fresh, milky tang that pairs famously well with fruit cake. ## The Blues: Britain's World-Class Veined Cheeses Britain does blue cheese extraordinarily well, and while Stilton commands the throne, several contenders press it closely. **Beenleigh Blue** from Devon is made with sheep's milk, producing a cheese of remarkable sweetness and complexity — more approachable than many of its bovine counterparts and widely considered among the finest blues produced anywhere in Europe. **Harbourne Blue**, also from Ticklemore Cheese in Devon, uses goat's milk to deliver a sharper, earthier blue that has gathered a devoted following among those who prefer their cheese with some assertiveness. **Shropshire Blue** resembles Stilton in method but is distinguished by its striking orange paste — a result of annatto colouring — and a slightly sweeter, more mellow flavour profile. **Colston Bassett Stilton** warrants its own mention as the gold standard of Stilton production, made by a small dairy cooperative in Nottinghamshire using a recipe of legendary consistency. For something entirely different, seek out **Oxford Blue**, a younger, creamier blue that was developed to fill a gap in the market for a milder, more spreadable option. ## The Soft and Semi-Soft: Britain's Growing Artisan Tradition This is where modern British cheesemaking truly dazzles. **Tunworth** from Hampshire is widely regarded as one of the finest soft cheeses produced anywhere in the world. Modelled loosely on Camembert but distinctly British in character, a properly ripe Tunworth should bulge gently when pressed, its interior collapsing into a rich, wobbly, mushroomy paste of extraordinary depth. It is the cheese that proved British artisans could compete at the very highest level. **Baron Bigod**, made on Fen Farm in Suffolk from the milk of the farm's own Montbeliarde cattle, is a Brie-style cheese with a beautifully balanced flavour: creamy and lactic when young, developing into something more complex and barnyard-rich as it matures. It is now stocked by some of the finest restaurants in the country. **Stinking Bishop** from Gloucestershire is washed in perry made from the Stinking Bishop pear variety, giving it a pungent orange rind and a soft, yielding interior with a flavour far more gentle than its infamous aroma suggests. **Cornish Yarg** is instantly recognisable by its coating of nettles, which impart a mild, earthy flavour to the pale, slightly crumbly cheese beneath. It remains one of the most visually distinctive and approachable British cheeses available. **Perl Wen** from Wales is a soft, white-rinded organic cheese with a lactic freshness and a delicate mushroom character. **Perl Wen** and its sibling **Perl Las** — a blue variety — represent the growing confidence of Welsh artisan cheesemaking. **Gorwydd Caerphilly**, made on the Somerset-Wales border, is the benchmark for this ancient Welsh style: earthy and damp near the rind, crumbly and lemony at the centre, deeply satisfying in a way that mass-produced Caerphilly simply cannot be. ## Regional Rarities and Hidden Gems Beyond the well-known names lies a world of regional treasures that reward the curious eater. **Kirkham's Lancashire** is hand-pressed and cloth-bound, with a loose, buttery texture and a long, complex flavour that develops beautifully on the palate — entirely unlike the rubbery commercial versions that have given Lancashire cheese an unfairly mundane reputation. **Stichelton** occupies a unique position in British cheesemaking: it is made using raw milk and traditional animal rennet in Nottinghamshire, meaning it cannot legally be called Stilton, which now requires pasteurised milk. The result is a blue of extraordinary depth and complexity, cherished by those lucky enough to encounter it. **Ticklemore Goat**, also from Devon, is a semi-hard goat's cheese with a clean, slightly citrusy flavour and a pleasant firmer texture that lends itself to cooking as well as the board. **Isle of Mull Cheddar** is made on a Hebridean farm where the cattle are fed on spent whisky grain from the local distillery — a curious piece of agricultural pragmatism that is said to give the cheese its distinctive, slightly funky depth of flavour. **Keen's Cheddar** and **Montgomery's Cheddar**, both from Somerset, are rival farmhouse operations whose clothbound cheeses represent Cheddar at its most serious and most rewarding. Rounding out our thirty: **Berkswell** (a hard sheep's milk cheese from the West Midlands with a nutty, almost Manchego-like quality), **Ogleshield** (a washed-rind raclette-style from Somerset), **Lord of the Hundreds** (a hard, mature sheep's milk cheese from East Sussex), **Yorkshire Pecorino**, **Snowdonia Black Bomber** (an intensely flavoured extra-mature Cheddar from Wales), **Corra Linn** from Scotland, and the remarkable **Exmoor Jersey Blue**, which uses the famously rich milk of Jersey cows to produce a blue of unrivalled creaminess. Britain's cheese story is not a footnote to the French one. It is a tradition of extraordinary breadth and ambition, shaped by landscape, livestock, and centuries of accumulated craft. Find your nearest independent cheesemonger, ask for their recommendations, and start tasting. There has never been a better time to be a British cheese lover. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the most popular British cheese? Cheddar remains by far the most widely consumed British cheese, accounting for roughly half of all cheese sold in the UK. However, among food enthusiasts, cheeses such as Stilton, Red Leicester, and newer artisan varieties like Tunworth and Baron Bigod command enormous respect. ### Are British cheeses protected by law? Yes. A number of British cheeses hold Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status under UK law. These include Stilton, West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Single Gloucester, and Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire, among others. ### Where is the best place to buy artisan British cheese? Independent cheesemongers, farmers' markets, and specialist online retailers such as Neal's Yard Dairy and The Fine Cheese Co. are the best sources for high-quality, properly aged British cheeses. Many also offer knowledgeable guidance on pairings and storage. ## Sources - [British Cheese Board — Cheese Facts and Varieties](https://www.britishcheese.com/varieties) - [Neal's Yard Dairy — British Cheese Producers](https://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/producers) - [DEFRA — UK Protected Food Names Scheme](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/protected-food-name-scheme-uk-registered-products) - [The Fine Cheese Co. — A Guide to British Cheese](https://www.finecheese.co.uk/pages/british-cheese-guide) - [Specialist Cheesemakers Association](https://www.specialistcheesemakers.co.uk) --- Daily Junction — https://dailyjunction.org/lifestyle/uk-cheese-guide-2026