Well, the circus man is Gerry Cottle, who used to run the Cottle and Austen Electric Circus, the Moscow State Circus and the Chinese State Circus, as well as a Circus of Horrors for the stage.
After Cottle gave up the circuses, he took over a tourist attraction in Somerset called Wookey Hole (which includes caves). A mature farmhouse Cheddar cheese from Ford Farm on the Ashley Chase Estate in Dorset is aged in those caves.
Ford Farm is owned by the Barber family, who purchased the business in 2010, and the April 2010 Cave-aged Cheddar from Ford Farm has been crowned Supreme Champion at this year’s International Cheese Awards, beating more than 3,700 other competitors and winning the National Westminster Trophy, presented by the National Westminster Bank.
Ford Farm MD Mike Pullin was busy working at the creamery when news came through of the success, so he drove up to Nantwich where he was much in demand from the media (including Dairy Innovation).
He admitted to being a bit stunned when he heard the news: “We haven’t won that many prizes here at Nantwich, so to win Supreme Champion out of 3,700 entries must be the same sort of feeling as winning the lottery, I should imagine. We’re absolutely thrilled!”
So, how easy or difficult is it to find yourself a cave?
“Well, Gerry Cottle owns the caves and without him we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this,” said Pullin. “He’s a very amenable guy and said build me an attraction, Mike, and we’ll let you keep your cheese in the caves.”
Around 300,000 people a year walk past and view the cheeses. “This time of the year, you will get 2,000 to 3,000 a day walk past it,” said Pullin.
Once upon a time, if you had a natural spring on your land, it was a good idea to move into bottled mineral water. Now, if you have a cave on your land, perhaps it would be a good idea to get yourself into cheesemaking.
Geoff Platt is editor of Dairy Innovation magazine. He’s also active on LinkedIn.
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