A Cornish cheese farm business is maturing nicely to its full potential having been selected to supply a prestigious supermarket chain in the North West.

The Cornish Gouda Company in Lanreath, was created in 2012 when Giel Spierings, then aged 19, came home to his family dairy farm from college to find a ‘For Sale’ sign on the gate. 

It was no longer profitable for his parents to continue to run the farm they had moved from the Netherlands to establish.

Determined to save his family home and change their fortunes around, Giel decided to set up his own business making high-value Gouda cheese using traditional

techniques he’d learned in Holland.

He knew that he could buy milk from the farm at a fair rate whilst profitably producing an artisan cheese. A fledgling side business was born.

The hand-crafted Cornish Gouda Giel created quickly became a hit at farmers’ markets and with local shopkeepers and soon demand was exceeding supply.  

Giel began working with business coaches from Transform, a support programme for businesses in Cornwall with ambitions for high growth.

The initiative is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and delivered by Oxford Innovation.

Now Giel is becoming a supplier to upmarket supermarket chain E H Booth, often known as the ‘Waitrose’ of the North.