My journey to Cheese with Claire started when I was working with small food and drink producers here in the North West. That really lit the fire in me for amazing artisan foods, a colleague introduced me to Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese and that was it – the curd nerd in me was set free!

I wrote a blog for many years called She Eats. You can still find it online and that is what led me to the International Cheese and Dairy Awards (ICDA) – firstly as a guest and latterly as a judge. I am always blown away by the calibre of people who I get to judge with and who are happy to share their knowledge with me. The ICDA attracts over 4,000 items from across the globe. I’ve also judged at the Artisan Cheese Awards in the last couple of years. The Artisan Cheese awards are all about British cheese and have around 500 entries. They are honestly some of the best days in my dairy each year.

In a bid to learn more, I completed level 1 of the Academy of Cheese training back in 2021. What an amazing course, if you love cheese, I strongly recommend it.

I am based in the North West of England, but if you are interested in one of these events and are a bit further away, don’t worry: have cheese, will travel! Drop me a line and let’s have a chat.