Cheese Advent Calendar

When my daughter showed me the advert, back in September, I just had to try it. A different cheese for every day of Advent. Each cheese comes with a description of it and how it came to be.  They make interesting reading in their own right.  The cheeses were delivered by The Courtyard Dairy (https://www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk/).

There were some amazing cheeses, and some that would never appear on my favourites list. Overall, 'cheese time' has been a highlight of each of the days of Advent in 2024. Here are the cheeses, and my evaluation of each. My absolute favourite (an easy choice among so many lovely cheeses) is highlighted below.

Stars	Meaning
★☆☆☆☆	Not worth it
★★☆☆☆	OK, but wouldn't buy more
★★★☆☆	OK
★★★★☆	Nice cheese, would look for this
★★★★★	Excellent cheese, I want more

Day	Name	Type	Rating	Comments
1	Winslade	Camembert	★★☆☆☆	Expected pinky hue was not present
2	St. Helena	Soft	★★★☆☆	Soft, not too strong,
3	Fellstone		★★★★☆	Semi hard, not too strong, good after-taste
4	Yoredale Blue	blue	★★★★★	Blue, strong flavour, consistent across the cheese
5	Anster	White	★★★★☆	Hard, slightly crumbly, Wensleydale, medium strong, good taste
6	Leeds Blue	Blue	★★★★☆	Medium soft, mild blue, sheep's milk
7	Blackmont Goat	Soft	★★☆☆☆	Mild flavour, the cheese is runny near the rind (possibly suffered in storage?)
8	Yarlington	soft	★★★☆☆	Pungent smell, flavour mainly in rind.
9	Sparkenhoe Blue	Blue	★★★★★	Hardish, blue. Medium strong.
10	Lincolnshire Poacher	Hard	★★★★★	Hard cheddar, with a strong flavour
11	Summer field alpine	Hard	★★★★★	Hard Cheddar, strong flavour.
12	Chevin Goat	Medium hard	★★★☆☆	Italian 'cheddar', with a blue rind. Nice flavour, not strong.
13	Corra Lin	Hard	★★★★☆	Sheep's cheese, good flavour
14	Baron Bygod	Brie	★★★☆☆	Slightly runny Brie, nice flavour.
15	Yoredale	White	★★★★★	Wensleydale, white, not crumble, similar to Wensleydale taste
16	Darling Blue	Blue	★★★★★	Medium strength blue, good flavour.
17	Kirkam's Lancashire	White	★★★★★	Mild, clear flavour, slightly crumbly
18	Beenleigh blue	Blue	★★★★★	Creamy blue, fairly strong
19	Brightwell Ash	Cream	★★★★☆	Mild flavour creamy cheese, white goats milk.
20	Appleby's Double Gloucester	Hard	★★★★☆	Savoury, not that strong
21	Hadfod Cheddar	Hard	★★★★★	Hard, tasty cheddar, with hint of blue
22	Burt's Blue	Hard Brie	★★★☆☆	Good strong flavour, not too blue.
23	Smoked Kalkaber	Hard	★★☆☆☆	Very Hard smoked, smells better than it tastes.
24	Doddington	Hard	★★★★☆	Gouda, hard, sharp flavour