Hello

Some of my fondest childhood memories are family holidays in France. Setting off before the sun came up to catch the early ferry from Dover to Calais. We spent a lot of time in the car, travelling through many beautiful regions of France, me happily listening to my Walkman or if I was lucky enough, playing my brothers Donkey Kong console. The highlight was always, pulling over at a services, finding a patch of grass and enjoying a baguette and wedge of whatever cheese had been selected for that particular journey. Simplicity. Freshly baked bread and a beautifully tasting, sometimes crumbly, sometimes oozy, sometimes firm, piece of cheese... just yum. Our family mealtimes would, without fail include a cheeseboard, always before dessert, so its fair to say that by a relatively young age I had devoured probably more than an average amount of cheese.

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November 2023, I find myself at the restaurant Pick and Cheese, in Seven Dials market in absolute heaven (if you haven't already... you must go!). Enjoying an anniversary night out, we get chatting; my equally cheese loving partner and me, about just how darn amazing cheese really is. If only we had a speciality cheese shop in our town. Somewhere that we could regularly pick up the cheese we already know and love as well as, just like we were doing at the time at Pick and Cheese, experience all the unknown beautiful cheese's that we are yet to discover.

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For the following 8 months I set out on a quest. With a retail background I had the ability to open 'a shop'. However I didn't want to just open 'a shop'. I wanted to open an amazing shop, a shop that would do the fantastic produce I was planning on stocking justice. I realised that being a cheese lover and consumer is one thing. Handling, storing and retailing cheese is quite another, so of course I needed help. With a sprinkle of serendipity I found myself in Roanne, a beautiful town to the north west of Lyon embarking on a Cheesemonger fundamentals training course, with the world renowned Mons Formation and Emma Young, aka the Cheese explorer. The course provided me with next level training and experience and will be a memory held dear for many a year to come. Not only in terms of the wonderful people and experiences I encountered, but the pivotal role it played in the future of Cheese! Louise.

 

And as for the name? Well, with a name that rhymes with cheese and a deeply engrained memory of hearing 'pass the cheese please Louise'... it just had to be!

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Cheese! Louise has opened as a bricks and mortar shop and is now setting sail on the seas of the world wide web (I can feel the cringe from my daughter at that expression, so that's staying). I really hope that Cheese! Louise offers you cheese lovers out there, a place to journey, explore and indulge, in the most fabulous product on our planet (surely?). Cheese.