Cheese

British elements in a March cheese board might include the unpasteurised Appleby Cheshire and real Wensleydale, made from half ewe’s, half cow’s milk and matured since last autumn, as well as Cotherstone from the Yorkshire Dales. Hugh Rance, proprietor of one of our finest cheese emporiums, describes it as, ‘soft and flaky, freshly acidic, smelling of clean curd and new hay’.

French names to look for in reputable specialist shops are Beaufort, Pont l’Evêque, Coulommiers, Comte and Banon. March marks the beginning of the French goat cheeses.