The ultimate festive

Chosen by award winning cheesemonger Hero Hirsh, manager of Paxton & Whitfield’s London shop, with a wild card from our cheese-obsessed Head of magazines,

EDITOR’S WILDCARD Baron Bigod (£24 for half a small wheel, approx. 400g) Our Head of magazines’ favourite new cheese, Baron Bigod, is a creamy Brie-de-meaux style cheese and the UK’S first raw milk cheese. Handmade using the raw milk of Montbéliarde cows in the Waveny River Valley, Suffolk, the texture is incredibly smooth, with earthy flavour notes.

A HARD CHEESE Montgomery’s cheddar (£6.75 per 250g) A superb mature cheddar. It’s full flavoured and develops a depth and complexity of flavour throughout its maturation period of 12-18 months. The texture is drier than that of many other cheddars, with a distinct crumbly and crunchy bite.

A SOFT CHEESE Bix (£5.75/100g) This is a new, luxurious, triple cream cheese. When young, Bix has a rich ice cream like texture. As it matures, the typical mushroom aroma of the cheese comes through. A WASHED RIND CHEESE Rollright

(£44 per kg)

A relatively new cheese to the UK artisan cheese market, Rollright has a peachy coloured rind that complements the pale, unctuous inner paste. It has a delicious full flavour that is savoury and meaty with hints of sweet buttery notes. Accompaniments Keep it simple – don’t go overboard and have too many accompaniments that then overpower the flavours of the cheese. I would recommend a couple of different styles of biscuit or breads, a well-made chutney or pickle and perhaps one type of fresh or dried fruit is more than enough to ‘dress’ your cheeseboard. A BLUE CHEESE Stilton PDO

(£26 per kg) Stilton is the classic cheese to enjoy at Christmas. This award-winning Stilton is full of flavour, rich, creamy and the blueing is perfectly balanced.