Find your nearest market:Loosehanger Cheeses have been making their delicious handmade cheese for eight years, developing their first recipes in their kitchen at home. Since then, they’ve expanded to a small dairy on the northern edge of the New Forest and they’ve seen great success at this year’s cheese awards as well.
Loosehanger use pure Ayrshire cows milk from a herd owned and managed by the Ody family, at Upper Wooton, Basingstoke. The cows graze on the herb-rich Hampshire Downs and are fed cereals that are grown on the farm.
Gwyn Williams of Loosehanger says he’s inspired by local food because of the diversity available in the county and the fact that they can get everything they need for themselves from Hampshire Farmers’ Markets.
When shopping for himself at Hampshire Farmers’ Markets, Gwyn likes to visit Westlands Farm Shop whose pork and beef is a well-priced favourite. The folks at Westland have also been good friends and supporters of the Williams’ business from the beginning.
His personal favourite from Loosehanger is the Loosehanger with Fenugreek because it tastes fantastic as well as being a great addition forcooking – a real all-rounder.
Gwyn trades at other markets but he says HFM is his favourite because of the friendly atmosphere at the markets and the professional way they are run.
As for those awards – Gwyn says the harder they work, the luckier they get. They’ve recently bagged two golds, a silver and a bronze award at the International Cheese Awards in Cheshire. They’ve also seen success at the British Cheese Awards winning a Gold award in the Modern British category as well as three Bronze awards for their New Forest Nanny, New Forest Blue Cheese and White Heart soft cheese.
