Berkswell

Berkswell

Berkswell was made by the Fletcher family at Ram Hall Dairy, and is sadly no longer in production.

Berkswell is a hard ewe’s milk cheese with a complex sweetness. Its gentle tang and slightly granular texture often draw comparisons with the Spanish cheese Manchego.


Portion
Regular price £18.35
/
  • Spend over £39.50 to receive free delivery (England, Wales & Central Scotland)

Standard delivery is free to most postcodes in the UK for orders over £39.50. Click here for a list of postcodes where additional delivery charges apply.

For orders under £39.50, standard delivery is £8.00.

Collection from our London shops is free - choose Shop Collection at checkout.

Choose your preferred delivery date at checkout. As we use third party couriers (typically DPD) we cannot guarantee the arrival day of your order but we will do our best to ensure that it arrives as close as possible to your chosen date. To be sure it arrives in time, we recommend choosing a date a couple of days ahead of when you would like to eat your cheese. 

milk type
Sheep

ingredients
Raw Sheep's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Animal Rennet

coagulant
Animal Rennet

milk treatment
Raw

location
Near Berkswell, West Midlands

milk source
Own herd

Show More

milk type
Sheep

ingredients
Raw Sheep's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Animal Rennet

coagulant
Animal Rennet

milk treatment
Raw

location
Near Berkswell, West Midlands

milk source
Own herd

breed
Friesland

season
All year

average age
6-8 Months

cheesemakers
Julie Hay

Show Less

The distinctive UFO-like shape of the Berkswell is the result of it being moulded in a kitchen colander.

Background

Ram Hall in the village of Berkswell, Warwickshire, has been in the hands of the Fletcher family for six generations. The first Berkswell cheese was made by Stephen Fletcher's mother Sheila in the ...

Read More

Ram Hall in the village of Berkswell, Warwickshire, has been in the hands of the Fletcher family for six generations. The first Berkswell cheese was made by Stephen Fletcher's mother Sheila in the early 1990s. Today, it is head cheesemaker Julie Hay who oversees the make, the milk for which is sourced entirely from Stephen's 450-strong flock of Friesland sheep. Stephen runs the farm with his son George and father Peter. Since 2021, they have been moving to seasonal production to better make use of the farm’s natural resources. The rainbow-like array of moulds you find on the rind of Berkswell are naturally occurring and can vary from red, to yellow, to purple, to green.

Read Less

Our Work

We visit Ram Hall to select our batches of Berkswell once a month, and the frequent contact affords us the opportunity to provide direct feedback to Stephen and Julie. We occasionally visit to make...

Read More

We visit Ram Hall to select our batches of Berkswell once a month, and the frequent contact affords us the opportunity to provide direct feedback to Stephen and Julie. We occasionally visit to make experimental batches, aiming to achieve a smoother texture and more direct flavour.

Read Less

Accompaniments

Brown Bread Crackers
£3.90

Scottish Honey
£8.30

Tracklements Fig Relish
£4.75

Serving Suggestions

A delicious alternative to parmesan. Grate over pasta, or any dish that is topped with cheese before grilling.
Shave Berkswell over a green salad dressed with a sharp lemony dressing.

Recipes

Fennel and Berkswell Gratin from Towpath

Towpath is a café perched along the Regent's Canal in London which regularly features our cheeses in their highly seasonal recipes. Co-proprietors Lori De Mori and Laura Jackson have published thei...

Pea, Ham & Berkswell Lasagne by Anna Tobias

Anna Tobias has cooked at many of our favourite places to eat, from River Cafe to Rochelle Canteen, and now runs Bloomsbury restaurant, Café Deco with the team from 40 Maltby Street. She's always ...

FAQs

As a general rule of thumb, we would recommend roughly between 100 and 150 grams per person for after dinner, and a bit more if cheese is the focus of the meal. If you are buying cheese to serve over a couple of days or as part of a buffet, it is advisable to buy a few larger pieces. This will both look better and keep better than many small bits. To help visualise weights, a good tip is to consider that a regular supermarket pat of butter weighs between 200 and 250 grams. If you are at all unsure please give us a call for some advice.

The best option is to keep your cheese wrapped in its paper within a box in the fridge. This will prevent the cheese from drying out and absorbing other flavours. Your cheese will arrive wrapped in waxed cheese paper, which achieves the best possible balance between maintaining humidity around the cheese and allowing it to breathe. We are happy to provide some free extra cheese paper, just search for "cheese paper" and add it to your basket. We don't recommend cling film or foil as it can cause the cheese to sweat which will negatively affect the flavour.

Customer Reviews

Based on 19 reviews
95%
(18)
0%
(0)
5%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
A
Alex De Cata

Berkswell

Hi Alex, many thanks for your review. It's much appreciated!
All best,
NYd

J
John Day
Hard, hard, hard

Hard to cut because of the shape and the hard rind; hard to stop it drying out; but hard to beat if you want a Manchego-like nibble.

Thank you so much for your feedback John - it's much appreciated!
All the best,
NYD

J
Jane Ramsden
Cheese delivery

All perfect. I was helped very kindly to make my individual cheese order and it arrived on time well wrapped and in excellent condition. Thank you.

We appreciate your feedback Jane - many thanks! We're delighted to hear that it all went well and the cheese was enjoyed.
Best wishes,
NYD

D
Dan Crowley
Another excellent xmas cheese delivery!

Another year, another ton of delicious cheese!

Your feedback is much appreciated Dan. Many thanks for sharing it with us!
All the best,
NYD

T
T.
A firm favourite

Always excellent. Firm, with a touch of fruitiness reminiscent of Parmesan.

We appreciate your feedback Tessa. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Best wishes,
NYD