For four generations, the Padfield family has joyfully tended to their milking herd at Park Farm. In 1914, Edward Ernest Padfield embraced the stewardship of the 240-acre farm. His wife crafted Cheddar cheese in the farmhouse's adjoining building, while cows were hand-milked in the nearby structure. The family worked with a small herd of Shorthorn cows.
In 1990, Graham Padfield revived the cheese-making tradition, using the same buildings where his grandmother had made Cheddar nearly 80 years earlier. However, in 2015, a new cheese dairy was constructed next to the cattle dairy and milking parlour, bringing production even closer to the milking process, just a stone's throw away.
Park Farm is renowned for its Bath Cheese, which gained popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was even recommended to Admiral Lord Nelson in a letter from his father following Nelson's victory at the Battle of Copenhagen. Graham Padfield discovered the recipe for Bath Cheese in an old grocer's recipe book. It called for full cream milk, feather-dusted salt on young cheeses, and a soft texture covered with white mould.
Innovation continued with Graham's creation of Wyfe of Bath cheese in 2000, a delightful semi-hard cheese named after a character in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Bath Blue cheese production commenced in 2010. These cheeses have received widespread acclaim, winning numerous awards. Bath Blue emerged victorious at the World Cheese Awards 2014-15, surpassing over 2,700 cheeses worldwide.
All of the Padfield family's cheeses are meticulously crafted using traditional manual methods, resulting in exceptional flavor profiles. Their commitment to time-honored techniques ensures that each cheese carries a distinctive and remarkable taste.
