Kingsmeade Cheese

Last Saturday, at a small Wellington market, I met Miles King - an artisan cheese maker from the Wairarapa (an hours drive north of Wellington, across the Rimutaka Ranges).

Kingsmeade started out making ewe’s milk cheeses with milk from their own flock of East Friesian sheep. Clover, Chicory, Plantain and Lucerne cover broad, green meadows where the sheep graze – they are big, contented and full of personality – no need to round them up at milking time, they hear Miles’ voice and come on their own.
Today, Kingsmeade makes 14 different varieties of cheese, half from ewes' milk and half from cows'. All are uniquely hand crafted, ranging from the aged hard varieties to the deliciously soft.

Calm and quietly spoken, Miles is hands-on from the first steamy breath of the newborn lambs to the daily milking, cheesemaking, cutting and packaging. Each batch of cheese is hand made in the factory on the farm, right next to the family home. Just down the road in Lansdowne Janet runs the Kingsmeade shop, cheerfully selling cheese and other delights while dispatching orders all across New Zealand.

Against popular belief, very little sheep cheese is actually made in New Zealand (despite the highest density of sheep anywhere on the planet). I often had to contend myself with imported sheep feta from Bulgaria!

Have a look at the large selection of cheeses here. Very happy to become a regular customer...