Cheesemakers in UK/Ireland to visit?

[Tom Turophile]

I'll be spending 10 days traversing England and Ireland in two months -- from London to Bath to Liverpool to Wales to Dublin to Belfast. 

Are there any cheesemaking areas or makers that I could visit?  Wensleydale is too far north, and Caerphilly is out of the way.

Here's a good resource that I need to comb through: http://www.britishcheese.com/

[Matthewcraig]

Well obviously there is stilton, I know it wasn't originally made there but you can get some really good stuff there :)

[graysalchemy]

There are a few smaller producers in derbyshire namely Hartington Creamery and also in cheshire there are a few including Chorlton Cheshire Cheese.

If you are going to Bath then Cheddar Gorge is not to far away and you can visit http://www.cheddargorgecheeseco.co.uk/]The Cheddar Gorge Cheese Co.[/url]

I would email them and see if they do visits, I think the first two are quite small but the cheddar gorge certainly does trips.

[Geodyne]

You're going to be too far to the west to pass through Melton Mowbray as well, so Graysalchemy has hit the highlights I'd have suggested.

If you choose to pass through Manchester and are interested in cheese shops as well as makers, there's an excellent cheese shop on the outer suburbs: http://www.cheesehamlet.com/, in Didsbury.

[graysalchemy]

Yes it is a very good cheese shop. :)

[Matthewcraig]

There is also the cheese board in harrogate that is a great shop and are really helpful, if you can I would certainly give it a visit

[SpargePervert]

They are not cheesemakers, but if you are in London it is worth getting along to Neal's Yard cheese shop, which has a fantastic range.  There are also some great cheese stalls in the nearby Borough Market, which has cheeses from the UK and Europe.  (the 24month aged comte is a favourite of mine).

Not sure where abouts in Wales they are based,  but the perl las is one of my favourite Blues,  so definitely worth hunting down some.