Charlie Turnbull

“I grew up on a small farm in Surrey, England, growing lamb and beef. My mother was offering box schemes way back in the early 80s. Most of what the family ate back then was lamb and beef with zero food miles.

We had no idea this would become a huge trend down as local became synonymous with low impact farming and high quality and artisan foods. Being one of five children I was more concerned with getting my plateful before it all disappeared.

I learned two things around the kitchen table – to use good ingredients and keep it simple, more true now than ever. Plus the more people and louder the noise the better!

I came to cheese after getting to know local cheesemakers in the West Country during a time when I was considering returning to farming. I couldn’t afford the fields and the tractors, but the cheese… now there was something to be inspired by.

I went to see Chris Ashby to learn more about cheesemaking, and Bob Farrand at the Guild of Fine Food (and founder of The World Cheese Awards), to learn more about cheese varieties and how to care for and sell cheese.

I opened Turnbulls Cheesemongers/Deli/Bistro in 2003 – with the ambition of having the best cheese counter in Dorset – maybe the UK. Shaftesbury High Street was not the choice, the shop was simply the best premises someone would let me have. Landlords weren’t aren’t that keen on startup shopkeepers with no trading history in 2002. And at the time the rest of the shop – the café, the catering, the jars of gherkins – were simply necessary to keep the cheese boat afloat. There is a lot of happy accidents in my history.

Since then I have become an acknowledged expert in cheese. I judge cheese in the UK and around the world; for Nantwich, Taste of the West, The Great Taste Awards, Bath & West Show, even occasionally for the French at the Concours Generale Agricole. I give talks and tutored tastings on cheese and beer matching at food festivals and lectures local social groups like the WI on the pleasure of cheese.

Then we launched the Academy of Cheese with Paxton & Whitfield, The Guild of Fine Food, Harvey & Brockless, leading dairy technologist Paul Thomas and Mary Quicke of Quickes Cheddar. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved there and I hope you will join us.

My focus now is on teaching and promoting cheese, artisan foods