A lorry pulled up in front of a cheese factory in the verdant Hampshire countryside in southern England , and workers were loading boxes of Tunworth, or what is also called the English Camembert, to be shipped to some of the best cheese shops and restaurants in the UK .

Like Stacey Hedges, who founded the Hampshire Cheese Company and started to manufacture Tunworth, dozens of entrepreneurs have entered the cheese business in England, Scotland and Wales, and a wide range of delicious British-origin cheeses is now available along with the two traditional ones, Stilton and Cheddar.

France, known as the “Land of a Thousand Cheeses,” is often the inspiration for this burgeoning sector in the Kingdom.

"I never expected my business to be such a success," says Stacey Hedges, who has been a lifelong cheese lover.

This former chef established her small factory in 2005, and it grew little by little, until today it employs nine employees and produces about seven thousand cheese molds a week, reaching 12 thousand during the Christmas period.

A UK-based French chef describes Tunworth on the Hampshire Cheese Company website as “the best Camembert in the world!” Already on menus and in supermarkets.

There is no trace of any machine in this factory, as all work is carried out manually, from receiving milk from a neighboring farm, to placing the cheese mold in round wooden boxes imported from France. "Everyone knows Camembert," notes Stacy Hedges, 61.

In addition to Tunworth, Hampshire Cheese Company also produces Wenslade, a more melting cheese similar to the French vacherin.

Stacy Hedges enlists the help of French engineers who advise her on the manufacturing process. "In this country, we have stilton and cheddar, but we don't know about soft cheese," she says.

The success of the Stacy Hedges project has inspired other Britons.

"The sector is going through a very exciting phase," said Bronwyn Percival, technical director at Neal's Yard Dairy, which owns four stores in London. "There are new people coming in non-stop, with a real entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to make good cheese," she notes.

Neil's Yard Dairy sells almost nothing but British cheeses. "We currently have Italian-made mozzarella, but if a producer can make it here with the same quality, then we may decide to change the product" and adopt it instead, which is what happened with Brie and Camembert cheese, Bronwyn Percival says.

More than 60 types of British cheese are distributed in Nell's Yard Dairy refrigerators.

As for the reason for this demand, Bronwyn Percival notes, "The United Kingdom has always been characterized by a strong dairy industry, but the decline in milk prices (after the liberalization of the market in the 1990s) prompted some to make cheese to benefit more from the milk they produce." This made it possible to save family farms.

Consumers caught up with the local industry, even before Brexit, which highlighted the UK's dependence on European food imports.

“People want to know where the food they eat comes from and support local producers,” says Tracey Cooley of the Academy of Cheese, which offers tasting classes and runs events including the British Cheese Weekend.

The pandemic contributed to supporting this sector, as "cheese has become a pleasure" for people confined to their homes.

But the spread of these cheeses is not yet universal. "Everyone has cheddar in their fridge," says Tracy Coley, but other cheeses are still limited to certain times and occasions.

Tracey Cooley explains that most Britons eat cheese that is considered luxurious at Christmas and on special occasions mainly, as its prices are already high, and the price of one cheese block often exceeds ten dollars.

"At the academy, we try to change mentalities and tell people: just like in France, eat cheese every day!"

It is remarkable, for example, that a restaurant in Camden, north London, called "Cheese Bar", whose menu is limited to British cheese, is constantly full.

"British cheeses" sell so well abroad that France itself is one of Neil's Yard Deli's top export destinations.

Stacy-Hedges sells Tunworth products in Hong Kong, the US, Belgium, the Netherlands and so on, but not in France: "Can the French buy British Camembert?"