Delivery: general

Who delivers it? How much does it cost?

We use a national courier service (Business Post) but also Royal Mail Special Delivery - for Scottish Highlands and Islands.

England, Wales, Scots lowlands, orders under £100: £8.99

England, Wales, Scots lowlands, orders £100-£199: £11.99
England, Wales, Scots lowlands, orders over £200: £14.99
Scottish Highlands & Islands, NI, orders under £40 : £9.99

Scottish Highlands & Islands, NI, orders £40-£160: £19.99
Channel Islands, orders under £100: £9.99
Isle of Wight:  £14.50

For bigger orders to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Wight, please email or call.

How long does it take?

Sometimes we'll be able to send send your order out the day we get it.  More realistically, it'll leave us the day after you placed the order.  If there's something you particularly want and we're out of stock, that might delay us a few days.  In that case I'll usually email to let you know what the score is.

We use next day services, since we don't want the cheese to be in transit any longer than that.   Delivery to addresses other than England, Wales and lowland Scotland may take two days.

As you know, nothing is 100% (especially when it involves the roads ...), and just occasionally the 'next day' service isn't next day.  Generally, however, there's no problem and the cheese arrives next day as planned.

We can send cheese to arrive between Tuesday - Friday.  Not on a Saturday, I'm afraid: it's just too expensive.

Deliveries to more than one address

The delivery charge only covers delivery to one address.  If you want cheese sending to more than two addresses, please place two separate orders.

How is it packaged?

We're very keen to make our packaging as green as possible, so we use cardboard boxes (not polystyrene) and 'Wood Wool' (not bubble wrap) - which stops the cheese shifting around.  Basically, this consists of fine wood shavings.    Could the packaging be greener? Yes - and we're trying!

All gift boxes are packed in one of our lovely white boxes printed up with the Cheese Shed name and logo.  Very smart!  If you've opted for the Posh Box, this'll be inside the white one, for protection.  For larger orders like weddings we often recycle boxes.

Cut cheese is wrapped in waxed paper.  An ice pack is added to help keep the cheese nice and cool.  We do put the ice pack in a plastic bag (to keep moisture away from the rest of the packaging): here James is re-using packaging which has come into his shop.

The 'Cheese Hamper' uses a special insulated box.  This has a polyethylene liner which is really intended to help protect the glass juice bottle. We ask customers to send the liner back to us for re-use (and people are usually happy to co-operate), and ultimately these can be recycled. 

What do we need from you?

Cheese, of course, needs to be delivered quickly. For this to be possible we need several things from you.  We need an accurate delivery address.  This is essential, and if an incorrect postal address is supplied we won't be responsible for any delivery problems which may follow. So it's worth taking a moment to make sure you've given us the right house number, postcode etc.  And there should be someone in!   So do think carefully about your delivery address.

We'll ask you for a safe place where the cheese can be left - as a fail safe in case there is no-one in.  Try to make your instructions simple, clear and brief.  Please note that if the package is left it is at your own risk: the ideal situation is always a delivery address with a person in it, whether this is home or workplace.

We also ask for a delivery day - and the recipient's phone number. From experience we know that sometimes the driver has trouble finding an address.  This problem is usually quickly solved if there's a phone number to call.

Cutting and weights

Cutting cheese accurately to a given weight is an art, not a science.  What we can say is that we'll try to get pretty close to the quantity ordered, and if we go 'under' on one item we'll try and make up for it on another.  Whole cheeses are also - as handmade products - approximate in weight, so bear in mind that a 'whole truckle' described as 1.6kg could well be more or less than that.