Hafod
milk type
Cow
ingredients
Raw or Pasteurised Cow's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Animal Rennet, Matured with Lard
coagulant
Animal Rennet
milk treatment
Raw or Pasteurised
location
Ceredigion, Wales
milk source
Own herd
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milk type
Cow
ingredients
Raw or Pasteurised Cow's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Animal Rennet, Matured with Lard
coagulant
Animal Rennet
milk treatment
Raw or Pasteurised
location
Ceredigion, Wales
milk source
Own herd
breed
Ayrshire
season
All year
average age
10-18 Months
cheesemakers
Becky & Patrick Holden & the Team at Holden Farm Dairy
Show Less
Hafod is made on a Welsh dairy farm where almost all of the cows' feed and bedding is produced on the farm's land.
Background
Situated near the coast in west Wales, Bwlchwernen Fawr has been home to the Holden family since the early 1970s. A leading figure in the Soil Association and more recently the Sustainable Food Tru...
Read More
Situated near the coast in west Wales, Bwlchwernen Fawr has been home to the Holden family since the early 1970s. A leading figure in the Soil Association and more recently the Sustainable Food Trust, Patrick Holden's influence on British farming has been considerable, but it wasn't until his son Sam returned to Bwlchwernen Fawr in 2007 that they began making cheese on the farm. Hafod is Welsh for 'summer place' or 'pasture', and it's on such pasture – up the hill from the river Aeron – that the Holdens' 80-strong herd of Ayrshire cows graze when they're not sheltering for winter. The vast majority of the herd's diet is grown on the farm's land, as is the straw for the indoor bedding: for the past four decades the family have been working toward a system where the farm is wholly self-sustaining.
Read Less
Our Work
We visit Holden Farm Dairy three times a year, and our visits are different to our other Cheddar selections. As Bwlchwernen Fawr is so far away, when we visit we spend time with the team looking ov...
Read More
We visit Holden Farm Dairy three times a year, and our visits are different to our other Cheddar selections. As Bwlchwernen Fawr is so far away, when we visit we spend time with the team looking over make notes and correlating those observations with our tasting notes, helping to shape the team's future experiments and approach.
Read Less
Hafod on the shelves of the cheese store at Holden Farm Dairy
Accompaniments
Mixed Seed Crackers
£3.95
Rosebud Old Yorkshire Chutney
£6.10
Rosebud Piccalilli Chutney
£5.25
Serving Suggestions
Melt on top of buttered crumpets as an alternative to cheese on toast.
Recipes
Welsh Rarebit with Shropshire Blue & Hafod
Recently we have been exploring the Neal's Yard Dairy library, and in amongst the more distinguished historical works and useful cheesemaking guides, we are lucky to have recipe books from the anna...
Roasted Vegetable Quiche with Hafod from A Portrait British Cheese
A Portrait of British Cheese is a celebration of the excellent cheese produced in the British Isles, featuring many of the cheesemakers we work with. The author Angus D. Birditt features thirty sma...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.
Hafod
A Welsh-made Cheddar cheese with rich, layered flavours and a supple texture, its interior reveals a warmly golden paste and the occasional blue vein
Hafod is made on a Welsh dairy farm where almost all of the cows' feed and bedding is produced on the farm's land.
milk type
Cow
ingredients
Raw or Pasteurised Cow's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Animal Rennet, Matured with Lard
coagulant
Animal Rennet
milk treatment
Raw or Pasteurised
location
Ceredigion, Wales
milk source
Own herd
breed
Ayrshire
season
All year
average age
10-18 Months
cheesemakers
Becky & Patrick Holden & the Team at Holden Farm Dairy
background
Situated near the coast in west Wales, Bwlchwernen Fawr has been home to the Holden family since the early 1970s. A leading figure in the Soil Association and more recently the Sustainable Food Trust, Patrick Holden's influence on British farming has been considerable, but it wasn't until his son Sam returned to Bwlchwernen Fawr in 2007 that they began making cheese on the farm. Hafod is Welsh for 'summer place' or 'pasture', and it's on such pasture – up the hill from the river Aeron – that the Holdens' 80-strong herd of Ayrshire cows graze when they're not sheltering for winter. The vast majority of the herd's diet is grown on the farm's land, as is the straw for the indoor bedding: for the past four decades the family have been working toward a system where the farm is wholly self-sustaining.
our work with this cheese
We visit Holden Farm Dairy three times a year, and our visits are different to our other Cheddar selections. As Bwlchwernen Fawr is so far away, when we visit we spend time with the team looking over make notes and correlating those observations with our tasting notes, helping to shape the team's future experiments and approach.
pairing suggestion
Melt on top of buttered crumpets as an alternative to cheese on toast.
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