Comment

The cups and rosettes tell the story - Anthony, Richard, Nigel and Patrick Villis with just some of the awards that their prizewinning cheeses have won over the years

ANTHONY, Richard, Nigel and Patrick Villis are celebrating their family's 100th year of cheesemaking at award-winning Cricketer Farm.

The three brothers and one son, who live and work in the Somerset village of Nether Stowey, have been making cheese at Cricketer since 1970 and between them they have completed 100 years of cheesemaking.

Derek Buller, managing director at Cricketer Farm said: "This really is a milestone for both the Villis family and Cricketer. As cheesemakers the Villis family has been invaluable to Cricketer - playing a big part in the success the company has achieved in the last 37 years. Anthony Villis joined Cricketer when it was owned by the late Lord Beaverbrook, who originally established the farm, and started as a cheesemaker. Since then he has worked his way through the ranks to head cheesemaker and is now responsible for the 3,000 tonnes of cheese we produce in a year."

Anthony Villis started working for Cricketer on the December 16, 1970, and was joined by his brother Richard (nowcheese production manager) on July 1, 1975. Nine years later, on May 7, 1984, their brother Nigel (now senior cheesemaker) started cheesemaking, and was followed by Anthony's son Patrick (cheesemaker) on April 14, 1998.

During this time the Villis family has helped the company to achieve hundreds of awards for its cheeses, including most recently the coveted Supreme Champion award at the 2007 Royal Bath and West Show.

"The success of our cheese is almost entirely down to the expertise and experience of our cheesemakers and we are extremely proud to have Anthony, Richard, Nigel and Patrick as part of this team," finished Derek.

Cricketer Farm, situated on the edge of the Quantock hills, the first ever Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), has been making traditional and innovative cheeses for 60 years. Each of Cricketer's cheeses is made to a traditional recipe using full fat, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, producing a range of farmhouse cheddar cheeses, half fat cheeses, quarter fat cheeses and 2 per cent fat cheeses.

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login