Behind the Cheese: My Visit to Village Maid Cheese
Some cheesemakers become part of your cheese life long before you ever get the chance to visit them.
I have known Village Maid Cheese for almost as long as I have lived in the UK, nearly 20 years. I stocked their cheeses in my first cheese shop in St Andrews, and many moons ago even had the pleasure of sitting next to Andy Wigmore at a World Cheese Awards judges’ lunch. Yet somehow I had never made it to their dairy. Admittedly, Berkshire is quite a drive from Scotland!
That finally changed this September, when I arrived in Riseley on a rather rainy afternoon and was warmly welcomed by head cheesemaker Steven and cheesemaker Laura, who took me behind the scenes.
Village Maid’s story began in 1986 with Anne Wigmore. After ten years at the National Institute for Research in Dairying, first working in microbiology and later learning cheesemaking in its research dairy, Anne decided to go it alone. Inspired in part by the ewe’s milk cheeses she had encountered in Sardinia, she began making cheese in a garden outbuilding. Nearly 40 years later, Village Maid is a second-generation family business, but that original commitment to handmade artisan cheese remains very much at its heart.
Suitably dressed in protective clothing, I followed Laura into the main cheesemaking room, where two Dutch vats, holding 1,550 and 800 litres, dominate the space. Milk usually arrives at around 6am and cheesemaking begins soon afterwards.
From there we moved through the different stages of a cheese’s life. In the brining room, cheeses are immersed in salt baths, some briefly and firmer cheeses such as Spenwood for much longer.
One of my favourite rooms was where Maida Vale is washed. The aroma was wonderfully distinctive. Each little cheese is washed by hand with local ale and, when there can be hundreds to tend at once, you begin to appreciate quite how much hands-on work goes into every batch.
Next came the cool maturing room, where Wigmore, Waterloo and Maida Vale quietly develop their character. It was fascinating to see cheeses at different stages side by side: some almost bare, others already developing the fluffy white coats of Wigmore and Waterloo, while Maida Vale gradually takes on its characteristic orange rind.
The firmer cheeses follow a very different journey. Spenwood, Heckfield and Golden Saye begin their maturation sealed in vacuum bags, allowing them to mature slowly. Later, both Spenwood and Golden Saye are opened and moved into another maturation room, filled with that wonderful, unmistakable aroma of ageing cheese, where the wheels continue developing their natural rinds.
Our final stop was the separate Barkham Blue dairy. Village Maid acquired Barkham Blue from Two Hoots Cheese in 2024 and now makes it at Riseley. I watched the cheeses being salted and saw the piercing machine used later in the process to introduce the oxygen the blue mould needs to develop.
Barkham Blue happens to be one of my absolute favourites: buttery, elegant and beautifully balanced.
What stayed with me most from the visit, though, was something Laura said. Anne may no longer be involved in the everyday running of the dairy, but her philosophy still guides what they do. These are handmade artisan cheeses, requiring time, care and an extraordinary amount of human attention.
Having sold Wigmore, Spenwood, Maida Vale and Barkham Blue for years, it was rather special to finally see exactly where they come from. And I think I shall enjoy putting them on our counter just that little bit more now.
The Cheese Lady xx