Pizza and a pint with Pevensey Cheese Co

We knew we had to feature an exceptional local cheese for this month’s Pat’s Pizza special. And after an introduction [pizza & a pint] with Sam Cellarman and resident font of cheese knowledge—we connected with the team at Pevensey Cheese Co. to develop a special that showcases their very tasty, handcrafted blue cheese.

Pevensey Cheese is co-owned by husband-and-wife cheesemakers Martin and Hazel, along with David and Marian at Court Lodge Farm, who produce the fresh milk used to make it.

Martin worked at London’s renowned Neal’s Yard Dairy selling artisan cheese for 15 years before deciding to swap retail for the vat. He set out to pursue the craft of cheesemaking—driven by the vision of creating something handmade that people would genuinely savor and talk about. He spent a year training alongside his friends at Trethowan Brothers while working behind the scenes with Hazel to get Pevensey Cheese Company off the ground.

Hazel’s roots run deep in East Sussex agriculture. Her family farms beef and lamb on the Pevensey Levels, where their native Sussex herd conservation-grazes the land on behalf of the Wildlife Trust. After 15 years selling fresh produce to supermarkets, Hazel decided it was time to channel her energy into building a family and a business of her own—finding Martin’s infectious love of cheese impossible to resist!

In the early days, Hazel’s parents kindly lent the pair a small section of their farm’s fodder shed to transform into the Pevensey cheese rooms. Without their generosity and support, the dream of Pevensey Blue would never have become a reality.

We asked Martin a few questions to get a bit more of an idea about their lovely cheese.

Liz: “The milk for the cheese comes from the cows at Court Lodge farm, they graze on the Pevensey Levels which looks idyllic. Can you talk more about their pastures and how that influences the cheese?”

Martin: “The pastures and the entire philosophy of farming at Court Lodge has a huge effect on the cheese. As the cows have a diverse offering of plants to forage they can be selective on what they eat and when. They are also able to roam the Pevensey Levels nature reserve which are kept waterlogged to give space to rare flora and fauna that can occupy the same ecological niches as cattle and sheep such as rare wading birds and dragonflies. Court Lodge has been Organic for in excess of 30 years. All that is to say that the philosophy of the farm is to put the land and nature first to have a happy and healthy herd as a result and that produces high quality and nutritious milk- what that means for cheese makers is that the raw material we use each day is unique each day, resulting in a cheese which varies from batch to batch as we continue to refine our process to make the best of this amazing ingredient. Interestingly the cultures we add to the milk are not flavour adding cultures; therefore despite pasteurising the milk after 11 weeks of maturing, the essence of the flavour is derived from the milk, from the land and from our care in maturing the cheese.”

Liz: “When we were taste testing the cheese for the pizza we felt the rind had a hint of the sea, are we imagining it or is that intentional?”

Martin: “The hint of the sea is likely to be the smell of the populations of the moulds, yeasts, bacteria and salt all interacting with thefats and proteins of the milk in a dynamic and cascading system which throws out complex flavours and aromas as the maturation continues. I daresay that the microorganisms that have a place on the shore or in the sea have also found a niche in cheeses more generally. It was not intentional to begin with but now we are building our business around this phenomenon to make our cheese flavoursome.”

Liz: “You won an award for Pevensey Blue can you tell us a bit more about that?”

Martin: “We have two big awards to be proud of and they were Supreme Champion at the Artisan Cheese Awards in 2022 and Reserve Champion in 2023 at the same show and those are selected from about 500 different cheeses. They are the highlights! We ended up setting a high bar that we haven’t been able to reach as yet! There’s always 2027!”

Liz: “Have you collaborated with another business before?! How do you feel about your cheese being used on a pizza?”

Martin: “We have had one major collaboration with two businesses simultaneously which is our ongoing seasonal cheese called Foxearle - which is our cheese, Greensand Ridge Apple Brandy and Neal’s Yard’s maturation team to make a vine covered brandy soaked Blue cheese. Our cheese on pizza - it’s a great ingredient as it’s sweet, complex and salty- we’re all for it!”

Liz: “ The folk at Foodwave and Sam cellarman brought us together and we’re really excited to collaborate on this project. With Foodwave’s aim to build a regenerative local economy, what is your take on this? What change would you like to see as an artisan producer in Sussex?”

Martin: “We have lots of thoughts on this! Firstly we want to be someone’s local and hopefully favourite cheese maker because food belongs to communities. It’s part of what makes people proud of their communities and gives us a reason to produce food and hope for the future: this sounds very boring and generic but it’s the truth. We work with milk from Pevensey but we live in Hastings and having a cheese that has a home in food shops and restaurants in Hastings which is a storied, famous and complex place is very exciting. I feel that local economies are for “mom and pop” businesses the most rewarding stages to be on and we have a network of local people who use our sell our cheese but we also work hand in hand with my In Laws who are beef and lamb farmers and with local pig farmers who take our whey for their pigs every week. We repurpose our clean waste water for animal feed or watering our allotment and when funding allows we are looking- as are many others- at solar energy as a way to run our refrigation.”

Liz: ”We’re pairing your Pevensey Blue with figs, creme fraiche, garlic, thyme, walnuts and pancetta. Do you eat your own cheese?! What do you usually pair with yours?

Martin: “Ginger nuts! Right this moment too much mortadella and chilli jam! Tea loaf and fruitcakes are popular too! We make pizzas with caramelised red onion, Pevensey Blue, walnuts and then rocket on top. I’m beginning to think cider is the easiest, go too pairing!

Liz: “Where can people buy your cheese?

Martin: “In Lewes: Cheese Please, in West Sussex: Cheese Buoy in East Wittering, Hove: The Cheese Man and Hut Cases, Bexhill- The Cheese Shop in Little Common, Hastings and St Leonard’s, Penbuckles and Salon.

We’re delighted to be able to showcase this delicious cheese for Foodwave festival.

You can order this month’s ‘Pat’s Pizza’ - the “Pevensey Blue’ at The Lewes Arms, and our shop in Newhaven and for collection or delivery by clicking here. It will also be available at our event at The Depot Dalliance on Saturday 5th September and at the Foodwave event at Harvey’s Brewery on Saturday 12th September. You can view more information about the Foodwave programme here.