I’ve just been to the posh cheese shop up Highbury Hill… …don’t worry the Midlands connection is coming, patience – patience… My local district sorting office got demolished for the new stadium – it seems the PO didn’t notice they were surrounded by cranes for over half-a-year and didn’t get their act together and so we have to go up the ‘hill’ to a temporary shack in the car park of the next door district sorting office. Anyway, the bright side is the nearby parade boasts ~ La Fromagerie ~ run by a couple from SW France. There you select from the wooden shelves in the cold room from some 200 or more hand made cheeses from France, Italy and a few local British and Irish cheeses too. They are properly watched and matured at the correct temperature though the prices are eye-watering, however, the depth of flavour is just amazing from the best of them; I usually take a big selection down to the family at xmas where they are appreciated.
This week I tried a Midlands cheese called Berkswell which is a hard unpasteurised sheeps cheese. It is particularly wonderful with a rich, deep, nutty flavour, and I recommend you Midlanders look out for it. However it was more than double the price of the Bleu d’Auverne that I got at the same time which in turn was quite a lot more than a typical supermarket cheese but nevertheless worth every penny.
(see ~ I got there in the end )