By Rosie Breakwell • Published on 26th March, 2025
A washed rind, Alpine-style cheese from Gloucestershire has been named Supreme Champion at the British & Irish Cheese Awards 2025. Burford by King Stone Dairy rose to the top among hundreds of entries into the 29th edition of these prestigious Awards, which were once again been hosted by the Bath & West Food & Drink Festival near Shepton Mallet in Somerset.
Produced in the Cotswolds at the small-scale and regenerative Manor Farm Chedworth, Burford was originally conceived by farmhouse cheesemaker, David Jowett, as a way to capture the sweet complexity of the farm’s summer pastures. Burford is now being made year round to reflect the seasonality of Manor Farm’s single herd, organic cow’s milk, with tasting notes including charcuterie, hazelnut and hints of tropical fruit.
All special trophy winners were announced during the British & Irish Cheese Awards Dinner on the evening of Friday 21 March, and the Reserve Champion Cup was presented to Golden Cross, a log shaped goat’s milk cheese from Golden Cross Cheese Company in East Sussex.
Around the UK, the Best English Cheese went to Clara, an ash-coated goat’s cheese log from Harvey and Brockless, while the Best Irish Cheese was awarded to Killeen Goat Mature from Killeen Farmhouse Cheese, The Best Scottish Cheese went to Anster, a delicate, pale and crumbly cheese from St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company, and Caws Teifi Cheese took the Best Welsh Cheese trophy with Saval, a Caerphilly-based washed rind cheese.
Julius Longman, chairman of the British & Irish Cheese Awards, commented: “We had an incredible day’s judging at the 29th edition of the Awards, with the skill and ingenuity of our cheesemakers plain for all to see. I think it’s fair to say that we had more deliberation and debate than ever before on the way to finding our Champion, which is a reflection of the outstanding quality on offer from our cheesemakers across the UK and Ireland. As such, David and his team should be immensely proud of their achievement in taking the Supreme Champion trophy for the second time. King Stone Dairy is a fantastic representation of what our cheesemakers are doing so right; working to do better by the land and produce superb quality milk, to make an innovative range of cheeses that are a wonderful reflection of the land from which they came.”
