I feel the need to express how much I love cheese. I particularly like blue cheese and their strong in-your-face flavours. I love all rich tasting food, so it may come as no surprise that I like blue cheeses so much. My favourite is St. Agur, which I photographed nicely here on a crusty white baguette. It’s a strong tasting creamy cow’s milk cheese from France, the home of so many great cheeses. It has an agreeable soft consistency which makes it easy to spread on a cracker if you so wished, perhaps accompanied by a glass of wine. It also goes really well with tomatoes; little cherry tomatoes are the best, on a cracker with a wedge of the cheese. It’s also pretty awesome spread on toast. I have to say however, that my favourite way to enjoy St. Agur is simply with a bottle of good Port. All you need is a glass and a knife; slice off chunks of the gorgeous cheese, savour it as it melts away in your mouth, then wash down with a swig of Port. Decadent!

Although I wouldn’t call myself a cheese connoisseur (I’m aware that there are hundreds and hundreds of cheeses that I’m not even aware of the existence of, let alone tasted!) I am a huge fan of cheese and it is a staple part of my diet. At home home our fridge was always packed with cheese; mainly various types of cheddar. Lunchtime always consisted of bread with cheese and ham, cheese and ham and tomato, cheese and tomato, cheese and pickle, cheese and pickle and tomato… you get the idea. Cheddar is so widespread that it has a bit of a reputation for being mediocre I think, which is a shame because there are some really fantastic tasting mature cheddars around. My favourite mass-produced one is Seriously Strong Cheddar, made by McLelland & Son. It’s tangy and reliably good. The best cheddars to be found, however, are from local. small scale producers. We serve Isle of Mull cheddar as part of the cheese selection at Wedgwood, which is excellent. The best cheddar I’ve ever tasted though, was from Green’s of Glastonbury. It’s a really mature cheddar, with amazing flavour. It beats Seriously Strong easily. I urge you to try it, you can order it from their website: www.greensofglastonbury.co.uk. Go for the “Traditional Mature Cheddar”, you won’t be disappointed.