Spring has sprung and with it growth!
by Alan Jenkins
As we open the barn door to spring, we have seen the weather in the UK dramatically change (for the better!). As we celebrated St David’s Day on 1st March – which is not only the national day of Wales, the country of my birth, but also the first official day of meteorological spring – instead of the downpours and deluges that have characterised our winter, we saw the daffodils in full bloom and the first of a number of days of spring sunshine. Winter is leaving us, and we can look forward to lighter mornings and, dare I say, a few glasses of rosé on a spring evening!
Our very wet winter does mean that the cows are a few weeks off from being outside, but we can’t wait to share on our socials the joy of seeing them walk out for the first time this year to graze on the fresh green grass. Last year was a record at Barber’s (the oldest cheddar makers in the world and our parent company), where the cows were out on green pasture for an average of 225 days – something we are really proud of. Cows outside, with the sun (and rain) on their backs, means we are getting the very best milk, which in turn makes great cheese.
Of course, spring is also a time of new growth and renewal, and at Somerdale this is certainly the case. We have seen good growth in our core cheeses. Red Dragon jumped +25% in sales last year, which is lovely to see from a cheese invented by Pam and Tony Craske in the 1990s. Westminster Rustic Red has become our No.1 cheese in the USA, and finally our flagship cheddar, Barber’s 1833 Vintage Reserve, continues to grow as more and more consumers discover and fall in love with its strong and wonderfully complex taste.
At the same time, this spring will also see Somerdale benefit from a significant investment in its logistics capacity and capabilities. At the heart of this is our new state-of-the-art cold store warehousing and enhanced supply chain management systems, which will further reinforce our levels of customer service.
Getting back into the world of cheese, we saw lots of disruption in 2025 and, whilst we all hoped for stability, in the first part of 2026 regrettably we are seeing the same level of upheaval. Geopolitics affects us all, and we are seeing this play out every day. At Somerdale we have a good structure for export and, whilst we cannot fully mitigate the impacts of logistical disruption, we do have top-of-the-range BRC-accredited facilities, and the shipping lines we use are trusted.
In a world that is moving fast, and not always in the right direction, we keep pushing our message of bringing you the very best of British and Irish cheese.
We wish you a pleasant spring – and a spring that brings some amazing cheese!
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