I've always liked canals and also cheese. So when I heard that there's two boats going around the canal system selling cheese, I had to visit!
With milk prices still not very good (see here) it's not surprising that milk producers are falling and farmers are giving up. Another 400 dairy farmers are expected to leave the industry this year (see here). I know three dairy farmers less than 6 miles from my house who have each diversified and built a marina for canal boats.
The latest of these is Overwater Marina, off Coole Lane between Nantwich and Audlem, where Cheese Boat 2 is currently wintering:
When I visited the marina was having an open day and Helen and David Wanamaker, from the Cheese Boat, were in the marina's reception. You may have to go to the boat to buy cheese (check the Cheese Boat's website for details).
They only sell two things, cheeses and chutneys/pickles, but then that's more or less the perfect meal isn't it?
The chutneys and pickles are Mike's Homemade, and are made by Mike and Claire Dentith at Woodseaves on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border. The chutneys and pickles are free from artificial ingredients and preservatives and taste great. Flavours include: Grape Chutney, Red Onion and Apricot Chutney, Spiced Balsamic and Red Onion Marmalade, Spicy Pumpkin Chutney, Green Tomato Chutney, Fruity Apple and Beetroot Chutney, Staffordshire Pickle, Chilli Pickled Onions, Red Chilli and Tomato, Chilli Jam, Spicy Carrot and Cumin Chutney, Runner Bean Chutney and Pickled Shallots with Balsamic Vinegar.
The cheeses come from either the Snowdonia Cheese Company or Caws Cenarth. From the Snowdonia Cheese Company they sell Pickle Power, a mature cheddar with pickled onion inside the cheese:
There's Little Black Bomber (extra mature cheddar), Ginger Spice (medium mature cheddar with chunks of ginger), Amber Mist (medium cheddar laced with whisky), Green Thunder (mature cheddar with garlic and garden herbs), and Red Devil (red Leicester with chillies and crushed peppercorns).
Bouncing Berry was a Silver Medal Winner at the Nantwich International Cheese Show last year and is a mature white cheddar with juicy cranberries added.
These miniature individual cheeses both taste and look nice and keep well. They therefore make great gifts.
When the canals are not frozen, both the cheese boats travel around the country (see their website for details). Below is a picture David gave me when they were at the Whitchurch boat gathering last September:
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