There was plenty of cause for big cheesy grins as Castlemaine’s new artisan cheesemaker savoured its first bite of retail trade on Friday.
Over the past few months, Long Paddock Cheese has been established at The Mill, Castlemaine, by the passionate partnership team with Cheese Full Circle Pty Ltd.
The new venture features an artisan organic cheesemaking factory on site, alongside a dedicated cheese school that’s getting set to take classes in late January.
Director Alison Lansley is secretary of the Australian Specialist Cheesemakers Association and has assembled an experienced team including French cheesemakers Ivan and Julie Larcher who have relocated from France.
The new gourmet attraction opened last Friday with a pop-up retail window ahead of their main shop opening scheduled for early December in The Mill’s foodie precinct.
“We’ve had a great response,” Ms Lansley said on Friday, as cheese lovers lined up for the first samples of Long Paddock’s artisan French-style range including specialty rainbow wattle cheeses flavoured with indigenous ingredients like pepper berry, finger lime and Davidson plum.
“We decided we’d set up a little pop-up here for the next three weekends, opening Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm,” Ms Lansley said.
Their new main shop – featuring a glassed-in cold room showcasing the range – will open early next month, with plans to offer tastings, cheese discussions and evening events.
“COVID set us back with the cheese school but our classes are scheduled to start in late January and we’ll begin taking bookings in two weeks via our website and socials,” Ms Lansley said.
“We’ll have a range of classes including professional artisan cheesemaking, home cheesemaking and cheese appreciation classes.”
