Holker Farm Dairy, Cumbria

Holker Farm Dairy is a small dairy run by Martin Gott and Nicola Robinson in Cumbria, England.  The land is on the estate of Holker Hall, the home of Lord and Lady Cavendish.  Situated on the Cartmel peninsula, the farm is a few miles away from Cartmel which is well known for its old Priory, and for being a foodie destination – including Cartmel sticky toffee puddings and chef Simon Rogan’s Michelin starred restaurant L’Enclume.   Also Cartmel Cheeses, which Martin runs with Nicola’s father Ian, and stocks traditional British cheeses, some European cheeses, and not least the very cheeses made at the Holker Farm Dairy. 

Sandi and I worked at Holker Farm for 5 months during the “summer” of 2012 (quotation marks on account of this officially being the wettest summer on record in the UK, and we were living in Cumbria - possibly the wettest part of England!).  Between us, we ran the dairy 7 days a week – making the cheese, washing the rinds, packing and sending to the major customer (Neals Yard Dairy), keeping the place clean, and generally learning a lot about artisanal/farmhouse cheese making. 

Martin and Nicola have a herd of approximately 100 Lacaune sheep.  In France, this milk would generally be used to make Roquefort, but at Holker it is made into a delicious washed rind cheese called St James.  Martin and Nicola have also recently purchased a small herd of Dairy Shorthorn cows to help even out the milk supply whilst the sheep are dry.  The cows’ milk is used to make a cheese called Brother David.  And during Autumn, when the sheep are drying off, the milks are mixed to make a cheese called Faellen (the Old English word for Autumn).  We have described each of these cheeses below. 

This is farmhouse cheese making - the raw milk from the sheep (or cows!) is pumped from the adjacent milking shed into the dairy, directly into the vats.  Before it has a chance to cool, starter culture is added to begin the ripening process.  The cheese is set with calf rennet until it reaches the required firmness, which depends on milk quality, the time of the season, and the weather (frequent rainy days kept us on our toes).  After cutting and resting, the curd is hand ladled into cloth lined moulds, and the necessary turning, pulling and draining operations are done.  The cheese is salted after a further day of resting, and is then washed and turned regularly over the next few weeks to develop an orange/pink rind.

# 24 - St James

This is a raw ewes milk, washed rind cheese.  The cheese is a flat square, and approximately 1.2kg.  We enjoyed making this cheese as it always developed good savoury, meaty, bacon flavours without many apparent defects or off-flavours.  Because of the artisanal nature of making cheese at this volume, the cheese can vary somewhat between batches.  The ideal St James has a glossy appearance, with a smooth texture, but is stable – i.e. it will not keep softening until it runs across the plate, but will maintain a gentle bulge when cut.  This was not always possible, and sometimes we had a slightly firmer cheese.   

As we found later at Neals Yard Dairy, as it ages the rind dries a little and is less bright orange, with some moulds developing much later, but the flavour maintains itself and some cheeses up to 3 months old have a flavour that no other cheese can match. 

St James that hasn't quite matured fully.

    

#25 – Brother David

This is a raw cows milk, washed rind cheese.  Brother David is a flat round and smaller than St James, approximately 700-800g, although the rind has a similar appearance to St James.  We found it more difficult to make Brother David, as the cows milk was not as robust as the Lacaune sheep milk, both in terms of cheese making/curd handling, and in flavour development.  We struggled to make a cheese without some bitterness in the rind, although this can also be said of some French washed rind cheeses.  Often there were similar meaty, savoury flavours as seen in the St James.  But overall we found the variability much greater in the Brother David. 

Brother Davids waiting to be packed, with the farm outside.

#26 – Faellen

This is a raw milk washed rind cheese, made from a mixture of milk from Dairy Shorthorn cows and Lacaune sheep.  It is made in a similar method to the St James cheese, and is a flat round approximately 700-800g. Although we only made this cheese for a month before our time was up at Holker Farm, we really enjoyed making it.  The sheeps milk seems to mask any difficulties from the cows milk and so we found Faellen easy and enjoyable to make – perhaps our previous four months experience helped as well.  Faellen develops a similar glossy, smooth, bulging texture and savoury bacony flavours as St James.  

Racks of Faellen.

#23 - Tourteau fromager "cheese cake"

Technically this is not a cheese. But it has cheese in it, so it counts in my books.  

We saw these impressive looking baked goodies in the Challans market at a number of different stalls.  This was not like the dense (but delicious) texture of a baked New York style cheese cake, but had a very light, fluffy texture somewhere between cake and bread.  In fact, the tourteau fromager didn't even taste all that cheesy - so can only presume it contained fresh, high moisture cheese in the mixture.  Some of us thought it was a little bland, although it would be nice with jam.

The most interesting feature, the dark black exterior, imparted a slightly blackened and bitter taste but this was pleasant as it was only a thin layer.  We can only assume this blackening is achieved with a layer of sugar on the outside and a hot oven temperature.

Definitely one to try when you find an example.  

Tourteau fromager

  

#22 - Brie de Meaux

Well we had to try a Brie de Meaux while we were in France!  This one was another supermarket purchased example which my godparents had in their fridge.  There was a slight grassy, cabbage aroma, but not overpowering.  The paste had broken down nicely all the way through to be glossy and bulging as it should - but not running across the plate.

The flavour was quite strong, a mix of savoury notes, some cooked cabbage, and with a slightly spicy finish.  Unctuous texture.

Brie de Meaux

#21 - Mimolette

This was an "extra-old" example made by Isigny St Mer, and we bought it from a Hyper-U supermarket.  I had been wanting to try this for some time, mostly because of the interesting rind.  In fact, the characteristic rough, pitted rind is caused by cheese mites.  The cheese is also coloured orange using annatto (a natural pigment).  

Mimolette was supposed to be originally based on Dutch Edam cheese, which is apparent from its shape and eye holes, but it seems to have developed it's own distinct characteristics as well.  Both have a reduced fat content compared to hard cheese favourites like Cheddar.  

Our example was typically round, with a very bumpy, crusty looking rind.  The "bubbles" in the rind will have grown in size due to the cheese mites as the cheese aged - so a younger cheese would have a smoother rind.  The cheese mites appear to have been removed and the rind cleaned well before the cheese was packaged for distribution.  The paste was a deep orange, with quite a firm texture.  We found it to be be very salty (presumably due to the cheese drying as it aged) and it had savoury, marmite and slightly fruity flavours.

Mimolette