After more than 40 years on the Sharpham Estate, Sharpham Cheese is moving to a new dairy at the South Devon Food Hub.
The new 7,000 sq ft production site, near Totnes, is twice the size of the original dairy and will enable Sharpham to increase capacity and grow sales beyond its West Country heartland, said owner Greg Parsons, who owns the business with wife Nicky. The move will also allow the business to pool resources and increase buying power with other artisan food producers at the hub.
“This will take the shackles off us as a business, especially around Christmas, when we always hit capacity,” said Parsons. “It means we will be able to push forward and supply new customers and more cheese to existing ones.”
South Devon Food Hub was set up last year by Ian and Julie Dennis at their farm in Longcombe, providing production and office space for small businesses including Devon Distillery and Orchard Drinks. The farm itself grows grain for porridge and animal feed, and rears beef for Waitrose.
“There will be a lot of advantages to being part of the hub,” said Parsons. “We hope to get some of the efficiencies that larger companies have by working together in areas like distribution, packaging and sharing office space and events facilities.”
Sharpham first began making cheese on the Sharpham Estate in the 1970s and is well known for soft and semi-hard cheeses made with local cow, goat and sheep’s milk including Ticklemore, Cremet, Washbourne and Elmhirst. The Parsons took over the business in 2019.
This article first appeared in the September 2024 edition of Fine Food Digest.
