Moovers & Shakers gather for The Big Weekender

Evening Cheesy1’s from a very sunny Somerset,

The 1st day at Cricketer Farm’s Somerset Cheese, Cider & Moozic Fest’ was spent watching the world go by on the Cider & Cheese express which was a steam train journey on the West Somerset Railway from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead. We gathered at Cricketer Farm HQ at 11am to board an open top bus at 11.30am to board the train to Minehead. After an exciting journey drinking cider (trying not to spill it!) & eating cheese we boarded our train at 12.35pm where a ploughmans lunch was waiting for us.

It consisted of:

Nether Stowey Reserve Cheddar – Click here for more info
Quantock Gold – Click here for more info
Plumpy Reserve- A newcomer to the Cricketer range but don’t be fooled this is a seriously tasty cheese! With the added ingredient of dried plums which have been soaked in 3yr old Somerset Royal Cider Brandy this Nether Stowey reserve cheddar transforms into a strong but fruity & sweet flavour. The taste of brandy isn’t too strong but certainly makes for a unique cheese board cheese.
Exmoor Blue- This exquisitely rich Jersey milk cheese is 4-6 week’s old by the time you get tasting it. Made in Lydeard St. Lawrence it is a creamy and mild’ish’ blue which has a texture like soft butter. It has PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) which means the standards set by the dairy are always followed and the milk is sourced within a certain area as well.
Somerset Brie- Made by Lubborn this cheese is creamy, soft and carries a light mushroom flavour. There was a slight chalkiness to it but it was gooey around the edges so made for perfect eating.
Sam’s Somerset Smokey- It’s a limited edition cheese which is made using a red Leicester recipe with West Country milk. The cheese is aged for 4-5 months and is smoked over oak chips. Of course it’s oaky but is smooth and strong; it pairs well with grapes & cider.

After our very hearty ploughman’s at 12.45pm we settled down for the rest of the journey to Minehead where we arrived at 1.55pm. We had a complimentary ice cream and got back on our train to Williton where we got off but we should have stayed on! Although stranded it was a very pretty station and we all just vegetated in the sun for an hour, and in the meantime our train arrived to take us back to Bishops Lydeard. After a 45mins train journey we arrived back and boarded our open top bus. The bus weaved through the Quantocks where we had to guess a persons name and had a general chit chat.