About Us
Pop in to the High Weald Dairy and you are likely to bump in to me or my husband Mark. It’s very much a hands-on family business. Mark might well be in the dairy making our award winning Sussex cheese while I’ll be in the office making sure that everything runs smoothly. Here’s a little bit more about us and our business.
Our sheepish start
During the late 1980s Mark and his parents, Guy and Audrey, established a flock of 150 British Friesland sheep. The idea was to milking them at their small family farm in Duddleswell and sell the milk to a local cheesemaker. However, with each sheep producing up to 3 litres of rich milk daily, they were soon faced with a surplus. As a result, they began to bottle the fresh milk and sell it to local health food shops. At this time it was in high demand as a delicious and nutritious alternative for people with an intolerance to cow milk. Sheep milk yogurt followed next, and then a selection of cheeses; 100% sheep milk Halloumi – originally supplied to the North London Cypriot community, Medita – a version of Greek feta cheese, hard mature Duddleswell and Sussex Slipcote soft cheeses.
High Weald Dairy Growing sales
As the cheese sales grew, so did the number of sheep in the flock, although there was a limit to how many could be kept on the small family farm. Soon other small dairy sheep farms began supplying them with sheep milk, so that they could sell cheese to retailers throughout the year. The range of organic cow milk cheeses developed gradually, initially as hard cheeses, but more recently as semi soft continental style cheeses.
The maturing business
Surprisingly by 2003, the business outgrew the facility at Duddleswell and production was moved to Tremains Farm, in Horsted Keynes, a 270-acre farm where 250 organic dairy cows are milked on site.
So a former grain store on the farm was transformed in to a modern dairy where Mark, and the cheesemakers who work alongside him, have been able to widen the range of cheeses produced.
Our cheese obsession
It’s fair to say that cheese is a bit of an obsession for Mark and, since I joined the business, his enthusiasm has rubbed off on me. He tells me I’m a lucky lady to have one of the cheeses named after me (Sister Sarah)!
You’ll find us both at the dairy on a daily basis and, when we’re not making cheese, we’re often out selling it at one of the local markets or designing recipes that uses our cheese. Even when we go on holiday I’ll often find Mark has chosen a destination that just happens to be close to an interesting cheese producer. One of our other great passions is walking our dogs in the beautiful Sussex countryside in which we live and work – and did I mention that one of them is named Pickle?
Award Winning team
We are supported in the business by a small but passionate team at the High Weald Dairy and currently make at least 15 different cheeses with the entire process for each one taking place on the farm – and you can never be sure when another one will emerge as Mark loves to try out new ideas.
With British consumers becoming more concerned with traceability, sustainability and supporting homegrown businesses, we are able respond to this need and so the High Weald Dairy continues to go from strength to strength. You can buy our cheeses from farm shops and farmers markets in Sussex and from some larger shops and suppliers in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and further afield. We also offer tiered cheeses for use as an alternative wedding or celebration cake and use our distribution network to support other Sussex producers.
Our surroundings
Among this landscape of farmland, woodland, historic parks and ridge-top villages is where you’ll find our dairy.
Tremains Farm is a 270-acre farm which is typical of the High Weald, among rolling hills where farmland is interspersed with woodland.
The dairy is close to the village of Horsted Keynes and many of the cheeses pay homage to the local area including Duddleswell, a nutty cheddar-style cheese, named after the village where the High Weald Dairy was founded and St Giles, a semi-soft creamy cheese, named after the church in Horsted Keynes.
The High Weald is a beautiful area and you will find plenty to do should you decide to pay us a visit with charming rural pubs just minutes away, beautiful woodland walks in the surrounding countryside and both The Bluebell Railway and the National Trust’s Sheffield Park and Garden within a couple of miles of the dairy.
Sustainability
At the High Weald Dairy, we are committed to protecting the special landscape in which we live and work and aim to lead the cheese-making industry in minimising the impact of its activities on the environment. We do this in a number of ways from recycling waste to using sustainable forms of energy to power our operation.
Here are some of the steps we’ve taken to ensure our business is as efficient as possible:
Our favourite cheeses
Mark
The Big Cheese
Favourite – Truffle Ewe
Sarah
The Little Cheese
Favourite – Truffle Ewe
Craig
Office Manager
Favourite – Tremains
Gary
Head Cheese Maker
Favourite – St Giles
Charlie
Assistant Cheese Maker
Favourite – Sister Sarah
Stefan
Production Manager
Favourite – Brighton Blue
Nathan
Cheese Maturer
Favourite – Smoked Foresters
Colin
Packing Manager
Favourite – Seven Sisters
Jolanta
Packing Team Manager
Favourite – Little Sussex
Kevin
Packing Team
Favourite – Duddleswell
Chris
Dispatch Team
Favourite – Medita
Nick
Website
Favourite – Sussex Velvet
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