Milk Link dominates cheese awards at Devon County Show

At this year's Devon County Show, Milk Link, the national dairy business with a major presence in the South West, scooped a grand total of ten awards for a wide variety of cheeses produced by the newly acquired Cheese Company based in Taw Valley, Devon and Lockerbie in Scotland.

Taw Valley's new Extra Mature recipe, about to be stocked by Marks & Spencer, won the first round of the 'Rhodia Grand Prix' award.

The Taw Valley Creamery, based near Okehampton and featured on Milk Link's stand in the Food and Drink marquee at the show, won seven of the awards in total. These also included: 1st place for Taw Valley Double Gloucester, available in ASDA supermarkets; 2nd place in the Hard Pressed category for Red Leicester, Special Reserve; 3rd place for both Open Mature Cheddar and Double Gloucester; 4th place was also awarded to Taw Valley creamery cheeses in the Open Mild Cheddar and Open Mature Cheddar categories.

The Lockerbie creamery achieved 1st place for the Open Mature Cheddar Class; 2nd place for the Creamery Butter class and 3rd place in the Low Fat Cheddar class.

Colin Stump, managing director of The Cheese Company: "We have excelled this year at the Devon County Show and are thrilled that so many of our cheeses produced in Taw Valley and Lockerbie have been awarded top ranking places.

In addition to this recognition, we also had a great opportunity on the Milk Link stand to increase awareness of Taw Valley cheese in its heartland - and we sold all of our show stock. This clearly demonstrates the strength of regional products and demand for locally produced foods."