In the UK, blue cheese used to pretty much begin and end with Stilton. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – it’s one of the great British cheeses. But today there are dozens (if not hundreds) of British blues lining our cheese counters. And Barkham Blue, made by Two Hoots Cheese near Reading, is one of the best.
Founded by Sandy and Andy Rose in the early 2000s, Two Hoots is a small operation that grew out of Sandy’s cheesemaking hobby. ‘My dad was a dairy farmer and I grew up on his farm in Berkshire,’ she explains. ‘Later on I set up a smallholding with Andy in Hampshire where we kept rare breed cattle and a few goats, and we’d operate as a mobile farm going out to local schools. We were milking the goats just for ourselves, but my cousin – who’s a cheesemaker – said we should try making some fresh cheese from the milk. Our first batch was created in a bucket in the kitchen in 1999, then left to hang in a muslin bag in the shower. We mixed in some herbs and garlic and it was really nice, and that’s where it all started.’
Sandy and Andy started selling their fresh goat’s cheese at local farmers’ markets and a few shops, and decided they enjoyed the lifestyle. They moved away from the smallholding to Barkham, on the Hampshire/Berkshire border, and started to look at making cheese full-time. ‘Our children were happy because we were a bit nearer civilisation, and the land had outbuildings, which were perfect to make cheese in.’