Bath Soft Cheese

The Padfield family have been happily milking a herd of cows at Park Farm for four generations.

Edward Ernest Padfield took on the 240 acres of farmland in August 1914. Cheddar cheese was made by his wife in the building that adjoined the farmhouse and the cows were milked by hand in the building across the yard. The local Bath Cheese was well known in the 18th and 19th centuries and was even recommended to Admiral Lord Nelson in a letter from his father.

To this day, all of their cheeses are made using old-fashioned manual methods which gives the cheeses more flavour.

Why is ‘making’ important to you?

As farmers and cheesemakers “making” cheese really is about creating something from the soil and the weather. That feels good in every sense. My father has always been keen on saying that tasting our cheese is to “taste the view.” It’s incredibly fulfilling to think that we’ve planted the grass, raised the cows from birth, milked them, refined the recipe, made and ripened the cheese.  Water comes from a borehole and even half the electricity comes from solar panels on the roofs of the dairy and barns. 

What or who inspires you?

My parents - they bought the farm, found the Bath Soft Cheese recipe and started the cheese business. They gave me the entrepreneurial bug and a solid work ethic, they also showed me how a loving family can give you the confidence and self belief to do almost anything. 

I’m inspired generally by entrepreneurial farmers - which is almost a tautology - as the only farmers who are surviving have had to diversify and do it well. In particular, Will Hawking at Marshfield Ice Cream, is a local inspiration. He is passionate about his farming, his ice cream business and has built both to be highly successful and well run.

How do you come up with your best ideas?

When I can’t sleep. I generally sleep quite well but when something is on my mind then I often work late into the night on it, lie in bed for hours thinking about it, or even get up in the middle of the night to start writing my thoughts down.

What are you most proud of?

In 2014 our Bath Blue won best cheese in the World at the World Cheese awards and in 2019 our Wyfe of Bath was made Supreme Champion (came first) at the International Cheese Awards (against almost 5,000 other cheeses). To know that the cheeses we’ve made with milk from our cows have then been judged to be some of the best in the world is mind blowing.

I’m also very proud of our cheese dairy and cafe. I love beautiful buildings and I think the dairy, with its cafe, traditional rough stone pillars and large glass windows, is quite beautiful as well as functional. I love that we have added fun bits around it, viewing galleries, a duck pond, a fish pond, huts where people can sit with their dogs. It gives me a great feeling to see colleagues and customers at the cafe enjoying the space and saying it’s beautiful.

How important is risk taking and failure? 

To run a small business with small margins is to take risks. I find risk exciting and motivating however when things go wrong it is awful. We’ve tried various things that haven’t worked out but luckily nothing too big. When I hear of other small businesses closing I feel so sorry for them. At the moment it is scary, with high electricity prices, increased land rents and dropping government support for farming. It’s my job to manage the risks and see us through.

What do you enjoy most about making?

I like the physicality but most of all I love the satisfaction of feeling that I’ve created something. I don’t often get to make the cheese these days, I have a brilliant team of cheese makers that do it five or six days a week. 

When I do make cheese I have a great feeling of completion, of a job well done - which I don’t get from office work. Towards the end of the day when you’ve finished a make, you’ve washed the floor clean of any spilt curds or whey, and the afternoon sun is streaming in through the west facing windows and you can stand back and look at the young cheeses and feel extremely pleased with yourself. Making cheese or working on the farm is physically exhausting but mentally satisfying.

Best piece of advice you’ve received?

“Volume is vanity, profit is sanity”… a bank manager told my father that once and he passed it on to me. It is sometimes easier to be profitable if you’ve got a bigger business but it’s always easier to lose money if you’re big. When you’re ambitious it’s tempting to do more and more but it’s essential to focus on only doing what is going to make money or at least be sustainable.

What themes do you see emerging in the making world?

I think we all care more and more about the ethics of making, particularly care for the environment. The artisan food world has grown over the last 50 years on people's increased interest in the provenance of their food. That it came from local producers using natural ingredients etc. 

That interest is now increasingly focused on the ethics of production: care for the environment, for people, for animals. Farming related food businesses are particularly in the spotlight. We look after large areas of land with both wildlife and farm animals. That land and those animals also have an impact on the environment. We have had a sustainable approach to farming for decades. Our animal husbandry is based on the belief that if you look after your cows, your cows will look after you. And we’re always looking for ways to improve both our environmental credentials and cow comfort as well as making it a great place to work or visit.  

How do you keep it fresh?

Our cheese can’t really be called “fresh” as they have matured for some time, our extra mature Wyfe of Bath is matured for over 12 months. Cheese is best kept moist and cool so keep it in a cave. If you haven’t got a cave, use a cellar. If you haven’t got a cellar, use a larder. If you haven’t got a larder, use a fridge. If you must use a fridge, keep it sealed to keep it moist… also helps to stop its smell from affecting other food in the fridge and upsetting others. Allow it to warm to ambient temperature before eating. 

Advice to your younger self?

Start making and selling things earlier. If possible try making and selling when you are at school. You don’t need to make much money to feel very successful while in full time education and it will set you on a path to a very fulfilling life.