A BLEND OF ART AND SCIENCE. That’s the best way to describe the ancient, complex but extremely rewarding job of making Lincolnshire cheese. In the same way that sommelliers and wine buffs love discussing wine, so cheese fanatics love discussing the infinite variety in cheese.

In the past decade, Lincolnshire has gone from having no presence in the world of cheese, to having two extremely well-regarded artisan producers, both of whom are experienced dairy farmers.

Brothers Simon and Tim Jones are based at Ulceby, and produce Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese; 8,500 truckles annually, in fact.

Their great great grandfather farmed at Ulceby as a tenant, before Simon & Tim’s parents Richard & Jenny — the latter a Cordon Bleu chef — took over the business in 1962.

Simon and Tim joined the business and in 1992, the former began to make cheese after some tutelage from expert Dougal Campbell. Initially Simon’s experiments involved batches produced once a week, using 1,000 litres of milk from the farmers’ pedigree Holsteins.

“At the time it was a novelty.” says Tim. “There was a lot of interest, as we were the county’s only cheesemakers back then.”

However, by 1993 when the dairy farmers took on a full-time cheesemaker, Richard Tagg, the farm was producing cheese four times a year. A new dairy followed in 1995, and just last year, the cheesemakers replaced their previous production vat in favour of a brand new 6,500 litre one to satiate its seven days a week production schedule.

Of the truckles produced each year, 25% goes to premium supermarkets like Waitrose and M&S, whilst 40% is destined for hotels and delis, 10% is sold directly via farmers markets and 5% is exported.

Fans say the love the cheese’s creamy taste; the broad, rich, long flavour sits between the traditional cheddar on which it is based, and alpine cheeses.

“It goes brilliantly with sweet things.” says Tim. Our favourite serving suggestion is to melt it onto plum bread — absolutely delicious, and very ‘Lincolnshire!’”

Tim also recommends pairing with moderately sweet wines, such as Sauternes, rather than port or dessert wines.

One independent expert and fan of the cheese is Kate O’Meara of Lincoln’s Cheese Society. Kate opened her St Martin’s Lane shop in 2000, with a café opening on

February 2002. The shop sells around 120 varieties of cheese, of which over 80% are British. 30% of the English cheese she sells come from Lincolnshire.

The café is a superb place to enjoy cheese-themed lunches from double baked cheese soufflé to seasonal salads, cheese fondues, baked camembert and more.

The business is incredibly successful, and trades internationally via the internet too, exporting Lincolnshire cheese abroad.

Unsurprisingly then, she’s a fan of Poacher and Cote Hill cheese, the latter of which began production in 2005.

Just over five years ago, dairy farmers Michael and Mary Davenport realised they had to do something dramatic to make money from their milk; they simply could not achieve a price that made the hard work worthwhile.

“We knew we had to do something to add value to our milk, and cheese seemed to be the way forward,” says Michael, who, if pressed, will admit he is cousin of Hollywood star Jack. Michael and Mary have been farming at Cote Hill Farm for 32 years, near Osgodby, close to the Lincolnshire Wolds.

He and Mary decided to make a soft blue, Cote Hill Blue, and a soft white, Cote Hill Yellow, its gentle creamy taste created particularly for children.

Using their unpasteurised milk, the cheeses have different starters and different treatments in the course of the making and maturation.

It’s currently on the cheese board at Winteringham Fields, the George of Stamford, and Claridges, among others... not bad for a cheese just over five years old!

Our featured cheesemakers are Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese (01507 466987, www.lincolnshirepoachercheese.com) and Cote Hill 01673 828481, www.cotehill.com). Both cheesemakers can be seen in the Tastes of Lincolnshire marquee at this year’s Lincolnshire Show.