ProducersHigh Weald Dairy: Award-Winning Cheese from the Heart of Sussex
Nestled in Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, High Weald Dairy sits at the heart of one of England's most ancient and protected landscapes — the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Small fields, ancient hedgerows, dense woodland. The kind of countryside that has looked roughly the same for a thousand years.
It's exactly the right place to be making cheese.
The Story Behind the Cheese
It started not with a grand plan, but with too much milk.
In the late 1980s, Mark Hardy and his parents Guy and Audrey established a flock of 150 British Friesland sheep. The original idea was simple: sell the milk to a local cheesemaker. But with each sheep producing up to three litres a day, they quickly found themselves with more milk than anyone wanted to buy. So they started bottling it for health food shops. Then they tried yogurt. Then, almost inevitably, they started making cheese.
Cheese became an obsession. Mark and his partner Sarah threw themselves into it — learning the craft, experimenting with styles, and building a range that nobody else in Sussex was making. Their halloumi, one of the early experiments, was originally sold to the north London Cypriot community who knew exactly what good halloumi should taste like. That it passed muster with them says a lot.
By 2003, the dairy had outgrown its original home near Duddleswell and production moved to Tremains Farm — a 270-acre organic farm in Horsted Keynes where 250 dairy cows are milked on site. (Yes, Tremains the cheese is named after the farm.) Today, Mark and Sarah and their small team still make everything by hand in what used to be the farm's grain store.
The result: multiple gold medals at the British Cheese Awards, the Artisan Cheese Awards, and a Sussex Food Producer of the Year title. Not bad for a surplus milk problem.
High Weald has grown into one of the most respected artisan dairies in England. Their emphasis on organic farming, sheep's milk, and reviving forgotten Sussex cheese traditions has earned them a cabinet full of accolades. But more than the trophies, it's the range that impresses — from fresh ricotta to washed rinds, smoked hard cheeses to sheep's milk blues, they cover more ground than almost any single dairy in the country.
The Sheep's Milk Specialists
High Weald built their reputation on sheep's milk, and it shows. Their flagship cheese, Duddleswell, is the one to start with. Named after the village on the edge of Ashdown Forest a few miles away, it's a hard sheep's milk cheese with a nutty, sweet, slightly caramel character — the kind of cheese that converts people who think they don't like sheep's milk. It's been winning awards for decades and remains the dairy's best-known export.
Brighton Blue is equally impressive — one of the very few sheep's milk blue cheeses made in England. Creamy, complex, and with none of the sharpness you'd associate with a cow's milk blue, it's a genuine rarity worth seeking out.
For something fresher, Sussex Slipcote is a revival of a cheese that almost vanished entirely. Medieval records place Slipcote in Sussex as far back as the 14th century — a soft, fresh sheep's milk cheese that was once sold at markets across the county before disappearing for generations. High Weald brought it back. Available plain, with garlic and herbs, or with dill, it's one of those cheeses where the history makes it taste even better.
Medita takes the same fresh sheep's milk and goes Mediterranean — small balls marinated in olive oil with herbs. Creamy, mild, and completely addictive on a salad or straight from the jar.
"When you taste Duddleswell, you're tasting the High Weald — the ancient pasture, the clean air, the slow rhythm of a landscape that hasn't changed much in centuries."
Beyond the Flock
High Weald doesn't stop at sheep. Their cow's milk range is just as carefully considered.
Ashdown Forester's is a hard organic cow's milk cheese named after the ancient Ashdown Forest — earthy, firm, and built for a cheeseboard. St Giles is their semi-soft washed rind, and Brother Michael pushes further into washed rind territory — a rich, pungent semi-soft named after a Benedictine monk that rewards anyone willing to give stinky cheese a chance. Sister Sarah, meanwhile, is their soft goat's milk answer — named as the companion piece to Brother Michael, and considerably gentler on the nose.
The Sussex Marble range — including chilli and cranberry variants — brings a more playful side to the lineup. Festive, crowd-pleasing, and reliably good on a board where you need something colourful.
Halloumi in West Sussex
Perhaps the most surprising entry in the range: Halloumi. High Weald makes a mixed-milk halloumi that holds up beautifully on a grill. It's become one of their most popular products, proof that a dairy in the English countryside can make a Cypriot classic with genuine quality. The organic version is worth tracking down.
High Weald Dairy is the kind of producer that reminds you how much depth the English cheese scene has when you look past the Cheddars. Three decades of craft, a landscape that does half the work for them, and a range broad enough to fill an entire cheeseboard on their own.
You can explore the full range at highwealddairy.co.uk.