Cheese maker, Sue Proudfoot of Whalesborough farm food provides award winning cheeses to the farmers market

Sue Proudfoot - Whalesborough Farm Foods

It might have been a case of Jack of all trades, master of nothing; but in the case of Sue Proudfoot nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, she has done a bit of everything - walking free range eggs around Bude in a pushchair, milk churn painting, special needs work, sheep breeding ... but then, one day about 10 years ago, Sue discovered cheese and found her vocation. Despite many iterations and her long suffering sampling friends sticking by her, over the years Sue has become an immensely skilled cheese maker; really, one of the best. Not only good enough to supply Fortnum & Mason, but also good enough to win Best Modern English Cheese at last year's British Cheese Awards (for Cornish Crumbly).

Despite recipes varying for each of her four cheeses they remain closely related,. Trelawney, the original, is a firm farmhouse cheese reminiscent of a Cheshire. Miss Muffet uses the washed rind process to produce a sweet, supple cheese and for Keltic Gold, she takes Miss Muffet and washes its rind with (Cornish) Countrymans' Cider three times a week for five weeks; tedious? Possibly, but when the result is such a connoisseur's cheese the end result more than justifies the hard work put in.

And the most recent addition, Cornish Crumbly, the curd is left relatively undisturbed i.e. not cut or broken up into small pieces, resulting in a chalky texture and lively taste, "a bit like a creamy Lancashire", says Sue.

Originally based on her husband's family farm - Whalesborough Farm near Bude, her spectacular success led to a need for more space. At the beginning of 2009 she moved to Norton Barton, only a few miles from home and still providing remarkable cheese to local consumers.