Chalke Valley Cheese

This is a story of a cheesemaker who wouldn't give up easily. Made redundant from another dairy when it was closed a few years ago, Alison French was determined, one day, to start up on her own. The former biologist had become hooked by cheese-making! It took a few years but finally she's got there and now, as Chalke Valley Cheese, she makes a range of cheeses from her own dairy in the Dorset village of Cranborne, from which one of her soft white brie-style cheeses take's its name

Having previously been a cheese maker in the county proved to be a wonderful launching pad - there were wholesalers & delis very keen to work with her again. As well as revisiting the soft whites which were her original speciality, she's branched out: there's a cheddar and a caerphilly, plus a rather wonderful little semi-soft called Tilly Whim (named after a cave on the coast, apparently). Look out for Tilly Whim and another of her cheeses, Dorset White, on the site soon.