I'm not too long busy on this forum and discovered only now this part on the forum. So here is finally a response from a Dutchman living IN Holland. And not only just in Holland, but about in the middle between Leiden (from the famous Leiden cumin cheese) and Gouda (no further explanation needed I suppose...). It's a town about 26000 inhabitans and I'm lucky enough to have a goat farm nearby where I can buy fresh raw goat milk and a farm at about 10 kilometers (we don't use miles here
) where they make artisan Gouda cheese and where I buy my fresh raw cow's milk (even early in the morning during milking time, so it's still at about 34C when I come home...). I make Gouda's in different varieties, Brie, Cabra al Vino, feta, Leiden, Cambozola, this weekend Reblochon and there's a lot more on the list that I want to try.
But when I look at this forum and the amount of Dutch people here (euhh, is it more than one?) and the fact that webshops here only offer the basic articles for cheese making, I'm surprised we still have such a reputation in cheese making as a country. Indeed, the fact that the (factory produced) cheese here is relatively cheap, and artisan cheese in this part of the country is easy to find (and also not expensive) must be a big reason not many people make their own cheese just for hobby...