The Courtyard Dairy wins Affineur of the Year

26th June 2026

The prestigious Affineur of the Year Awards celebrate and recognise the best technical skills of cheese maturing (called affinage in France). And this year (2026) The Courtyard Dairy’s entry was awarded first place and overall winner.

Entrants are sent a series of young cheeses spanning five cheese categories, (each just a few days old) and are then able to mature them as they wish to bring out distinctive, different and first-class flavours from each cheese as it matures.

The cheese categories this year were:

Rachel (goats’ cheese)
Baron Bigod (soft cheese)
Gorwydd Caerphilly (crumbly hard cheese)
Quicke’s Cheddar (hard cheese)
Cropwell Bishop (blue cheese)

It was a great recognition of the cheesemongers’ skills at The Courtyard Dairy that its entry took home first place and overall winner at the awards.

Awarded the biggest trophy as overall champion Affineur, The Courtyard Dairy cheesemongers Simon Ferro and James Spence secured their win with their aged Quicke’s Cheddar, selected as overall champion by an esteemed judging panel of affinage experts from across the world. Josh Windsor, head affineur at Murray’s Cheese (New York) said “The Courtyard Dairy has truly produced a tasty hybrid of two distinct styles by blending make and affinage traditions. We are excited to see what arises from this exchange of ideas when we host the winner affineur.”

Having set out to create a Cheddar-Alpine hybrid with a “balance of French finesse and British backbone”, The Courtyard Dairy regularly washed their cheese in a brine and bacteria solution – known as a ‘morge’ – over the early months to develop an Alpine ‘Comté/Gruyère-like’ crust, before carrying out regular brushing and careful control over the varying environmental factors including temperature and humidity over the course of its 10-month maturation.

The resulting cheese, declared as a ‘clear winner’ by head judge Patrick McGuigan, carried some of the hallmark tasting notes of Cheddar – brothy, tangy and slightly sharp – while bringing in meaty, herbaceous and umami flavours more commonly associated with traditional styles in France and Switzerland.

The Courtyard Dairy shop manager Simon was delighted: “The award shows just how much careful maturation of a cheese can really bring out the different characteristics and show quality cheese to the fore. We’re lucky at The Courtyard Dairy to have a range of cheese-maturing rooms, and wealth of cheesemonger expertise, and this competition allowed us to showcase those factors that we emply to ensure every piece of cheese that passes through the premises is in absolute prime condition.”

As well as winning the category for hard cheese, which was voted as overall winner, The Courtyard Dairy also won the soft cheese category (where they had matured a Baron Bigod washed in annatto; then carefully managed its rind development and breakdown to produce a soft, richly pungent cheese) and the blue cheese category (where their early piercing, slow initial maturation, cloth binding and humid warm maturation of a Stilton, wowed the judges.)

With three trophies out of five available brought home, and overall winner – The Courtyard Dairy really were recognised as true champion affineurs.

BBC Food Programme Cheese Courtyard Dairy

BBC Radio 4: Food Programme. “Is our cheese heritage ancient history?”

17th April 2025

Andy & Kathy from The Courtyard Dairy was excited to be featured on BBC Radio 4’s “Food Programme” this week, in their episode on: “Is our cheese heritage ancient history?”. Discussing their research into British cheese and it’s evolution: past, present and future. They helped Sheila Dillon decode an ancient 112 page ancient vellum manuscript “A Pamflyt Compiled of Cheese, Contayninge the Differences, Nature, Qualities, and Goodness, of the Same” recently discovered by Leeds University and brought it to life. Using inspiration from their pamfylt and other historical references they handmade a recreation of an ancient cheese to the region: Courtyard Dairy Soft. Listen to it here: Find out more fascinating facts about cheese – simply sign up to The Courtyard Dairy monthly newsletter for regular exciting offers and interesting info. from the cheese-world. Sign up here.

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Ever wondered what makes a Caerphilly, Cheshire and Cheddar different?

Click below to see what characteristics a cheese grader would expect Britain’s key territorial’s to exhibit: examining their body and texture, flavour and aroma, colour, and finish.

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The cheese caves at Mons Fromages

12th July 2010

After a successful first month working with the affinage experts at Mons I thought I’d better explain the layout of Mons and each of the caves here, and what they do. To start, there is a huge refrigerated receiving area where the cheeses arrive every day to be processed. Everything arrives here, from huge mountain wheels to small little apériti cheeses….