Silver in the British Cheese Awards March 2024
The British Cheese Awards took place at the end of March at the Royal Bath & West showground and our Blue Wennalt won silver!
We're so pleased with the feedback we have had for our latest cheese!
NEWS
Finalist - Farm to Fork Porducer of the Year March 2024
Very excited to announce that we are finalists in the Wales Food & Drink Awards - Farm to Fork producer of the Year. This award showcases businesses that have diversified within the Welsh agricultural sector. We now produce ice creams, sorbets and a variety of soft cheeses on out farm
Sorbet available in individual pots - Sept 23
Due to popular demand our Mango sorbet is now available in indivudal retail pots!
Finalist - Farm to Fork Porducer of the Year May 2023
Very excited to announce that we are finalists in the Wales Food & Drink Awards - Farm to Fork producer of the Year. This award showcases businesses that have diversified within the Welsh agricultural sector. We first diversified over 30 years ago when we started making ice cream and more recently we have started making cheese too. All our products are made on our farm using milk from our own cows.
Shortlisted for Best Dairy Producer June 2022
We are very priviliged to be shortlisted in the Herefordshire Food & Farming awards for Best Dairy Producer. We're very proud of the ice cream and cheese that we produce on our farm using milk from our own cows!
New Cheese Fedw May 2022
Inspired by the beautiful Fedw woods, Fedw which is pronounced 'Ved - doo' is really delicious and versatile cheese. A creamy cross between a Feta and Caerphilly cheese that can be used in salads, cooked with, topped on burgers or simply on a cheese biscuit.
Brooke's Dairy on Countryfile May 2020
With lots of producers working differently during the Covid-19 lockdown, Countryfile wanted to highlight new iniatives and see how businesses were working differently. Our cows loved meeting Kate Humble and licking the camera! They were like bucking broncos when the drone went up! You can catch it again on BBC iPlayer.
https://bit.ly/Countryfile240520
Wye Valley Producers launched May 2020
Covid-19 has put a stop to lots of things including show and markets, the perfect time for some local collaboration. We've teamed up with great producers from the Wye Valley to create a click and collect market where you don't even need to leave your car. To find out more and to see what great products are available visit www.wyevalleyproducers.co.uk
The Great Britich Bake Off! September 2019
Did you spot our Angiddy on Bake off? The lovely Michelle created 'Noson Caws' for her Tear 'n Share bread and included two delicious Welsh cheeses including our very own! Prue Leith described it as ‘wonderfully cheesy’, so not only is Angidyd great for eating it's also great to make with!
SALSA + Cheese September 2019
SALSA means Safe and Local Supplier Accrediation, it's a food safety certification recognised by leading food buyers and retailers nationwide and it's an important way that we can show the high levels of food safety that we work to. We have held SALSA accreditation for our ice creams and sorbets for a number of years. This year we have our extended our scope to cover our cheese making and so we are very pleased that we have now acheieved SALSA + Cheese. The standards are written in conjunction with the Speciailist Cheesemakers Association and cover everything from how we train our team, the processes that we use to make our cheese through to how we handle and store it. Any audit can be a bit stressful but our auditor was thorough and fair and we are very proud with our accreditation!
Ginger is Just Great! August 2019
We've been making our Just Ginger ice cream probably since we started nearly 30 years ago!
It's a traditional flavour and it clearly stands the test of time as our Just Ginger has been awarded a Great Taste Award in 2019! If you haven't tried it before make sure you give it a try.
Rural Business Awards 2019 - Regional Finalist July 2019
The aim of the awards has not changed over the years and the aim is to give recognition to businesses operating right across the Rural sector, to acknowledge the breadth and depth of opportunity presented by the Great British countryside, as well as to celebrate the achievements of all rural businesses, from engineering through to artisan food producers and professional services organisations.
Our Cheese Dairy is all systems go! March 2019
In 2018 we were sucessful in applying for funding through the Food Bussiness Investment Scheme to support our investment in a new dairy. Our building work to refurbish a barn into a cheese dairy started in the Autumn of 2018 and was completed in early 2019. We were inspected by Monmouthshire EHO in March and then production started!
Rum & Raisin - Simply delicious! August 2018
Out of thousands of products, our Rum & Raisin ice cream was awarded a - 1-star Great Taste award, which means judges dubbed it a food that delivers fantastic flavour. We've never entered the Great Taste Awards before so we are over the moon to have been given an award. Recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, Great Taste values taste above all else, with no regard for branding and packaging, we are thrilled that the judges loved our ice cream!
There were 12,634 entries into Great Taste this year and of those products, 192 have been awarded a 3-star, 1,207 received a 2-star and 3,254 were awarded a 1-star accolade. The panel of judges this year included; MasterChef 2018 champion, Kenny Tutt, chef and food writer, Elly Curshen, eco chef and food writer, Tom Hunt, author and chef, Zoe Adjonyoh, baker Tom Herbert, author and blogger, Izy Hossack, and baker and recipe writer, Martha Collison, as well as food buyers from Harrods, Selfridges and Sourced Market.
Finalist in the Rural Business Awards July 2018
We are one of 54 Welsh businesses honoured in the regional heats of this year’s Rural Business Awards (RBAs). Now in their fourth year, the RBAs are the only UK-wide business awards specifically for the rural sector. Sponsored by Amazon, the scheme has been a huge success since it started with the first award ceremony held in 2015.
We have been nominated in the Best Manufacturing Business and will find out in October how we've done - fingers crossed!
The RBAs were founded by Leicestershire businesswomen Jemma Clifford and Anna Price and now attract hundreds of entries from businesses based all over rural Britain. The aim of the awards is to highlight the success of businesses across the UK’s rural economy – for example, the combined turnover of just the RBA’s Welsh finalists is over £20 million.
The awards are organised by rural business for rural business, with winners in the 13 categories – ranging from Best Rural Start-up and Outstanding Rural Diversification Project through to Best Rural Professional Services Business and Rural Education or Training Business – decided by an independent panel of judges drawn from the rural business sector, rural public sector agencies, and rural charitable organisations. Sponsors include Idealogy and Fisher German, which is backing the diversification category. The success of the awards is such that they are this year being rolled out regionally for the first time.
Say Cheese! Funding enables our new cheese dairy June 2018
With the sucess of Angiddy we are well and truly hooked on adding 'cheesemakers' to our C.V. Following a sucessful applciation to the Food Business Investment Scheme we are refurbishing a building on the farm so that we can make more of our delicious cheese and have a go and trying some new ones. This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.
Brooke's Dairy Ice Cream now available in Morrisons March 2018
Exiting news! Our delicious ice cream is now available in Morrisons Abergavenny. The new store which opened today (14th March) has worked with local producers to show case artisan Welsh food and drink.
It all started with a 'Meet the buyer' day where we met with Morrisons and groups of potential customers that had been invited to come and taste the products. All of which provided feedback on our ice cream, a bit like dragons den, it was a great day and lovely to talk about our ice cream and the farm where it is made.
Morrisons will be stocking six of our flavours, including our popular Welsh Gold, boozy Rum & Raisin and Mint Choc Chip which is one of the most consumed flavours in Wales.
Brooke’s Dairy wins Gold at World Cheese Awards 2017 with new cheese Angiddy December 2017
Brooke’s Dairy from Monmouthshire has awarded a coveted Gold award for its newly launched Angiddy. Angiddy is a mould ripened soft cheese, made using Jersey milk from the family farm and is similar in style to a brie or camembert. Jersey cows are lovely cattle, friendly, calm and well suited to our grass based system. All our cows have names and we breed all our cows on the farm so we can choose the ones with the best qualities for milking. The milk we use from our cows not only gives a lovely golden colour, fresh flavour but an addictive tang which is memorable and moreish. When young the delicious cheese has a fresh light lemony flavour which mellows with time into a rich creamy soft texture with a hint of mushroom
With entries from a record breaking 35 different countries judged at the 30th anniversary edition of the World Cheese Awards, which formed part of this year’s Taste of London Festive Edition, Brooke’s Dairy has shone a spotlight on it’s wonderful cheese on this truly international stage.’
Brooke’s Dairy explains; This is our first year making cheese and we have been thrilled with the response we have had to Angiddy. We started dairy farming in the Wye Valley in the 1970’s, where as well as the sun the wet Welsh weather is perfect for growing lush long grass for our small herd of Jersey cows. We’ve been making artisan ice cream on our farm for about 25 years, Jersey milk makes great ice cream and we’ve always thought it would make great cheese. With this new venture into cheese, we thought the best test would be to enter it on the world stage and we can’t quite believe we have won Gold! In January we hadn’t made our first batch of cheese and now we’re ending the year with Silver at the Royal Welsh and a Gold at the World Cheese Awards – What a year! Winning Gold at the World Cheese Awards confirms we were right about Jersey milk and gives us the seal of approval of for our cheese making ability – which is praise indeed!’
Angiddy wins Silver at The Royal Welsh Agricultural Show July 2017
2017 has been a busy year for us, we've been developing our first cheese at Food Centre Wales in Horeb. After lots of trials and tasting we thought we'd better check our taste buds were correct, so we entered Angiddy in the 'New Cheese' class at The Royal Welsh Agricultural Show. It was a nervous wait while all the judging took place but it was worth it to come back and find a Silver Award - we couldn't quite believe it!
Brooke's Dairy Ice Cream available in Waitrose July 2010
Ice cream made in Monmouthshire is now on sale in Welsh Waitrose stores after a Chepstow firm won a contract to supply the major supermarket chain.
Brooke's Wye Valley Dairy Company will supply three flavours of its ice cream produced on Panta Farm, near Chepstow, to Waitrose stores in Monmouth, Caldicot, Abergavenny, Barry and Pontprennau.
The family-run business already supplies Gwent attractions including Tintern Abbey and the Old Station at Tintern with the ice cream it makes from the milk of its herd of pedigree Jersey cows.
Husband and wife team Robert and Irene Brooke started running the business from their farm in 1994, and now employ five members staff producing up to 2,500 litres of ice cream a week in 16 flavours.
The three flavours to appear on Waitrose shelves will be Vanilla, Just Ginger, and Welsh Gold with Honeycomb.
Mr Brooke said he was "delighted and incredibly proud" to be selling his produce at Waitrose.
He said: "I think it's quite nice to supply the five Welsh stores in this part of Wales and hopefully we will do more business with them as they get to know the ice creams better."