Loosehanger cheese

When did you set up Loosehanger?
Ness & Gwyn set it up in 2002 – just Ness full time with a good friend helping and Gwyn at weekends. By February 2003 Gwyn had gone to 4-days-a-week in his day job so he could attend Farmers’ Markets on Fridays or Thursdays as stock increased. We now employ 7 local people.

Tell us about your products/services
We do a very wide range of cheeses now. Recent innovations have been soft cheeses in both Ayrshire cow and goats milk. We do 3 fantastic blue cheeses 1 goat and 2 cow and a full range of pressed cheeses ranging from 6 months old down to 6 weeks. Many have added herbs which increases our attraction to hotels and restaurants as they can ‘ring-the-changes’ on their cheese board depending upon the season.

What’s your best sellers?
Our ‘New Forest Blue’ is undoubtedly our best-seller with ‘Hampshire Rose’ (6 months), ‘Nanny Williams’ Blue’ and Loosehanger Original (6 weeks) close behind.

What awards have you won?
We have consistently done well at all cheese awards we have entered but have had an embarrassment of riches this year with the following awards in July/August:-

• Hampshire life Food & Drink Awards 2011
• New Forest Marque Producer of the Year
• Runner-up Hampshire Food Producer of the Year
• Great Taste Awards – 2-star Gold
• White Hart
• Loosehanger with Fenugreek Seed
• The International Cheese Show – Nantwich
• Nanny Williams’ Blue – Double Gold
• Hampshire Rose – Bronze

Highlights in the past have been:-

• New Forest Marque Producer of the Year 2008
• New Forest Blue – Best Small Producers Cheese 2009
• Old Sarum Blue – Britain’s Best Blue 2006
• Hampshire Rose, Loosehanger Bustard with Mustard and New Forest Blue – Triple Gold 2007
• Plus gold medal standard for most of our cheeses

Where can we buy Loosehanger Cheeses?
Within the New Forest it’s available at the following outlets:-

• Beaulieu Organic Farm Shop, Beaulieu
• Honeyfords Butchers, Lyndhurst
• Minstead Village Shop, Minstead
• Nelsons Deli, Fordingbridge
• Setley Ridge Farm Shop, Brockenhurst
• Woodgreen Community Shop, Woodgreen

For other outlets outside the New Forest please visit our website www.loosehangercheeses.com

When and why did you join the Marque?
We joined in 2008 because we recognised its strong local connotations and its audited certification of quality, which was a great fit for how we promoted our business. It’s been a huge boost for us bringing us business that we would never have been able to gain on our own.

Any exciting plans for 2012?
We are desperately trying to invest to improve the efficiency of our production and delivery process and increase their capacity. All our staff work really hard to maintain the quality of our cheeses small changes and improved equipment would ease some of the daily load.

However, the most exciting thing we can think of is the intention of having a 10-day instead of a 7-day break in the New Year when all the mayhem of December is over.