Big cheese contest under way

Organisers hailed this year's event another record-breaker, with more than 4,000 cheeses from 26 countries at the contest in Nantwich.

Belton Cheese, based near Whitchurch, and Appleby's, in Prees, were amongst the contenders all put to the test by more than 200 judges.

And with a whole host of awards already in the bag, Belton were keeping their fingers crossed to continue their outstanding success.

Held yesterday in Dorfold Park, the morning saw judges take to the marquee and test the cheeses before results were announced yesterday evening.

Producers from across Shropshire were battling it out with international rivals to gain the accolade of making the best cheese in the world.

Belton Cheese won the National Westminster trophy for the highest number of gold awards for the second year in a row.

It also won The Joseph Heler Trophy awarded annually to the Supreme Creamery Cheshire Cheese, The Berkel Trophy, awarded annually for the best Acid Creamery or Block Territorial cheese, The Cheese Company Trophy, awarded annually to the champion organic cheese and The LTS Litman Trophy for the best speciality cheese.

Henry Ellesby, cheese steward at the awards, said: "This has been another record -breaking year for us in terms of the number of entries, this year we've had almost 4,500 cheeses, which is quite some number. We've also had cheeses from all over Europe and have significantly increased the number of cheeses coming from the USA and Australia. We have had a big push in attracting these entries from other continents and this will continue in the coming years."

The Supreme Champion of 2014 was a blue stilton from Nottingham.