Wyke Farms

The Clothier family have farmed the land of Somerset for over 200 years. The original cheese recipe was created by Ivy Clothier as a hobby.[2][3] She used her husband's first cow herd to produce cheese. The recipe became well known in local areas and she later bought milk from other farms. She won many awards for her cheese, the first being in 1952. Ivy's recipe is still used today.[3]Ivy's son, John Clothier left Tom Clothier and sons to create the Wyke Farmhouse Cheddar company in 1980 but by 1992 the brand name was changed again to Wyke Farms as it fitted in the packaging better. Now Wyke Farms sells cheese to over 150 countries worldwide and brings in a turnover of over £100million.[4]

With help from UK Trade & Investment, the family-run business was able to export its products to more than 160 countries. The company started expanding internationally in 1997.[3] The cheese and butter are partially made with milk from cows that graze in the Mendip Hills in Somerset. There is a herd of 1,000 cows which produce the milk and the company also uses milk from cows in nearby farms.[1][3] In 2015, it was announced that the company expects to "quadruple international sales" by 2019.[5]

The waste of cows and pigs are used to power the farm, rather than electricity from the national grid. It took 5 years to finish building the biogas plant.[6]

Diane Cox is employed by Wyke Farms for her ability to smell and taste cheese. Her employers pay £25,000 p.a. to insure her nose. She is able to infer which cheese will become a high quality vintage cheddar.[7] Cox consumes multiple times more cheese for her work than a typical British adult.[7]