THE INTERNATIONAL Cheese Awards are on their way back to Cheshire this July, attracting cheese lovers from all over the world as part of the Nantwich Agricultural Show on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 July.
The beautiful 80,000 sq ft cheese complex will be opened up to the public, offering the chance to browse the stalls of a huge range of exhibitors.
The ICA is the largest cheese show in the world and is truly international in flavour, attracting an amazing 4286 entries in 2013 from 26 different countries.
In all, 283 categories were judged last year, with a delicious Claxstone Smooth Blue produced by Melton Mowbray's Long Clawson Dairy emerging as the Award's 'Supreme Champion'.
Other worthy winners included Shropshire's Belton Cheese, who came away with the National Westminster trophy for the highest number of gold awards, and Marks & Spencer, who won the 'Supreme Retailer' Award.
International Cheese Awards
This year’s show – the 117th – looks set to be bigger and better than ever, with celebrity chef James Martin already confirmed to appear in the cookery demonstration theatre alongside Sean Wilson, Will Holland and Jonathan Harrison.
James will be familiar to most from BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen, whilst Sean has made the move from the cobbles of Coronation Street to the life of a successful cheese maker with the award-winning Saddleworth Cheese Company. Will was awarded a Michelin star in 2009 at the age of just 29 and was the central region champion on the BBC’s Great British Menu, whilst Jonathan is chef patron of the beautiful seventeenth-century Sandpiper in Leyburn, Yorkshire Life's Dining Pub of the Year.
You can see the chefs at the following times on show day:
10.00 a.m. Jonathan Harrison
11.00 a.m. James Martin
Midday Will Holland
1.00 p.m. Sean Wilson
1.45 p.m. Jonathan Harrison
2.45 p.m. James Martin
4.00 p.m. Will Holland
'Somebody say cheese?'
Tuesday 29 July is 'Judging, Press and Trade Day', when the cheese judges (including Debbie Halls-Evans, winner of Channel 4’s The Taste and Manchester Confidential’s own Gordo) will gamely sample the entries before the winners of each category are announced towards the end of the day.
Then on Wednesday 30 July, the beautiful 80,000 sq ft cheese complex will be opened up to the public, offering the chance to browse the stalls of a huge range of exhibitors - from tiny artisan cheese producers to well-known national brands.
The cookery demonstration theatre holds two hundred people for each sitting, and offers a packed programme with tickets priced at £5 each. These can be pre-booked via the Nantwich Show website, along with tickets for general admission priced at £14 for adults and just £5 for children aged between 4 and 16.
The show attracted an astonishing 36,000 visitors in 2012 and continues to go from strength to strength. For further details in the run-up to the show, keep an eye on the event’s Twitter account @icheeseawards and the website here.
Cheesefest
International Cheese Awards
