Ford Farm’s Cave Aged Cheddars start life at the Dairy in Dorset where they are made using milk from local herds that graze the lush pastures of the Ashley Chase Estate and its environs. The ‘Cheddaring’ process (the turning of the curds) is performed entirely by hand, as is the salting of the curds, the pressing of the cheese, and the bandaging in cheese cloth. The cheddars are carried by hand two hundred feet underground into the Wookey Hole Caves in the Mendip Hills where they are left to mature. The constant temperature and humidity of the Caves offers ideal conditions for storing and ageing cheddar and the porous nature of the cheese enables it to take on the distinctive earthy and nutty flavours from the atmosphere.
