Cheddar From Cheddar: Meet the Cheesemaking Couple Who Brought a World-Famous Cheese Back to Its Home

John Spencer inspects wheels of cheddar maturing in the ancient Cheddar Gorge caves. The cheddar matured here, Katherine Spencer says, is creamier than other more mature cheeses, as the humidity in the caves is so high. Courtesy of Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company

In their small riverside dairy, cheerful cheesemakers Katherine and John Spencer are unlikely standard bearers for one of the world’s oldest food processes.

The couple are the last cheesemakers in their village—which wouldn’t be very remarkable if that village wasn’t called Cheddar. Among the leafy lanes and rolling farmland of Somerset, in England’s rural West Country, Cheddar is the birthplace of one of the world’s most famous and popular cheeses.