There’s something about a bank holiday weekend that makes cheese feel like the right answer.
Especially when the sun’s out, the forecast is looking gloriously warm, and we’re all trying to work out what to feed people without spending half the day sweating over the hob.
This piece was originally featured in Speciality Food Magazine last week, and we thought it deserved a proper home here too — because frankly, if ever there was a weekend for putting good cheese at the heart of the table, this is it.
Too often, cheese gets treated as an afterthought. It’s brought out at the end of a meal, almost apologetically, when everyone’s already full. Or it gets shoved into the “Christmas only” category, as if cheese only gets one proper moment in the year.
We’ll have none of that, thank you very much.
Good cheese can be a starter, a centrepiece, a conversation starter, or the thing that turns a few bits on the table into something genuinely memorable. And spring — especially a warm bank holiday weekend — is one of the best times to eat it.
After the heavier food of winter, we naturally start craving brighter, fresher flavours. Think young leaves, radishes, peas, asparagus, fresh herbs, crisp ciders, chilled whites, good bread, and the sort of lunch that stretches lazily into the afternoon.
Cheese fits beautifully into that way of eating. It doesn’t need heavy chutneys, port, or a formal cheeseboard. In spring, it can be lighter, livelier, and much more relaxed.
A goat’s cheese like Dorstone from Herefordshire is exactly the sort of thing we reach for at this time of year: fresh, citrussy, delicate, and brilliant with asparagus, peas, broad beans, or simply spread onto warm sourdough. Add a drizzle of good olive oil, a few herbs, and a glass of something chilled, and you’ve got the kind of dish that looks effortless but feels properly generous.
A sheep’s milk cheese like Corra Linn from Scotland brings something elegant to the table too — buttery, nutty, and lovely with a cold glass of white wine. Sheep’s milk cheeses often have this quiet richness to them, and Corra Linn is a brilliant example of British and Irish cheesemaking sitting confidently alongside more famous European styles while still having its own identity.
Then there’s Kirkham’s Lancashire, a proper territorial cheese and one of the most sociable things you can serve. Made in Lancashire from raw milk, it has freshness, crumble, and a lactic brightness that makes it wonderfully food-friendly. With good bread, chutney, radishes and a few slices of ham, you’ve got a lunch that feels abundant without being fussy.
Pitchfork Cheddar can anchor a table beautifully too — chunked up generously and served with cider, pickles, spring onions, dressed leaves and proper conversation. No overcomplication required. Just a great cheese in great condition, doing what it does best.
And for something soft, luxurious and made for sharing, Baron Bigod is your friend. Let it come to room temperature, bake or buy a good loaf, open a bottle, and let people gather round. That, to us, is how cheese should be eaten: not as a performance, but as a proper centrepiece.
This is where independent cheesemongers come in. We can help you move beyond the default cheeseboard and think about cheese as part of the whole meal. We can suggest seasonal pairings, talk about texture, explain how ripe a cheese is, and help you choose something that suits the occasion rather than just filling a gap.
Because if we want to celebrate cheese properly in this country, we need to stop treating it like an extra. British and Irish artisan cheesemakers are producing cheeses of real quality, individuality and integrity. They’re shaped by milk, landscape, skill, season and patience — and they deserve a place right in the middle of the table.
So this bank holiday weekend, don’t leave cheese until the very end.
Put it out with bread, vegetables, pickles, wine, cider, friends, and as much sunshine as Yorkshire will allow.
Keep it generous. Keep it simple. Let the cheese do the talking.
And if you need a hand choosing the good stuff, you know where we are.