By Alex Beleaev | Caviar & Gourmet, London | beleaev.com
You can buy artisan cheese online in the UK and have a properly curated selection delivered cold to your door, without trekking to a specialist counter. The trick is choosing a small, well-balanced edit rather than a fridge full of one-note wedges. This guide covers which cheeses to pick, what each is for, and how they arrive.
Beleaev carries a tight selection of British and French classics, the cheeses we'd actually put on our own board. Below: the soft, the hard and the blue, what each one does, and the plain method for serving them at their best.
Key Takeaways
- A balanced order is one soft, one hard and one blue, with a wild card if you want range
- British classics (Tunworth, Colston Bassett, Golden Cenarth) sit happily beside French and Spanish names
- Cheese ships chilled; let it come to room temperature before serving
- Pair with quince paste and honeycomb from the larder for a complete board
- Start with the Beleaev gourmet collection
Which Artisan Cheese Should You Buy?
There's no single best cheese to order. There's the right edit for your table, built on contrast.
For the soft slot: Tunworth Camembert
The Tunworth British Camembert is where most people should start. Made in Hampshire from pasteurised cow's milk, it has a bloomy white rind, a gentle mushroom aroma and a creamy interior that turns gooey once ripe. The 250g wheel is generous enough to bake whole, which is the single easiest way to impress a table. From £12.95.
For the hard slot: Comté or Manchego
Comté Vieux, aged eighteen months, is the firm cow's-milk option: nutty, brown-butter rich, with a crystalline bite that comes from long maturing. From £8.95. Prefer sheep's milk? Manchego DOP from La Mancha is firm, buttery and piquant, the classic partner for quince paste. From £6.95.
For the blue slot: Stilton or Roquefort
Colston Bassett Stilton, the benchmark English blue from Nottinghamshire, is rich and creamy with a mellow tang. From £7.95. For something sharper, Roquefort AOP, made from ewe's milk and aged in the Combalou caves, is salty, creamy and assertive. From £6.95.
Stilton or Roquefort: which blue?
People often ask which blue to order, so here's the honest answer. Choose the Colston Bassett Stilton if you want a mellow, creamy blue that wins a crowd, the one to pour port with at Christmas. Choose the Roquefort if you want a sharper, saltier ewe's-milk blue with real punch, better for crumbling into a dressing or melting into a sauce. On a five-cheese board you can carry both, set well apart. On a three-cheese board, pick one and let the soft and hard cheeses balance it.
| Cheese | Style | Milk | Size | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tunworth Camembert | Soft, bloomy rind | Cow | 250g | £12.95 |
| Perl Wen | Soft, brie-style | Cow | 200g | £10.95 |
| Comté Vieux 18-month | Hard, aged | Cow | 150g | £8.95 |
| Manchego DOP | Hard | Sheep | 150g | £6.95 |
| Colston Bassett Stilton | Blue | Cow | 150g | £7.95 |
| Roquefort AOP | Blue | Sheep | 150g | £6.95 |
| Golden Cenarth | Washed rind | Cow | 200g | £12.95 |
Not sure where to start? A Tunworth, a Comté and a Colston Bassett give you soft, hard and blue in three confident steps. Browse the full gourmet collection to round out the board.
The British Classics Worth Knowing
British cheese has quietly become some of the finest on offer, and our shortlist leans into it.
Golden Cenarth is the standout: an award-winning Welsh washed-rind cheese from Caws Cenarth, soft and oozing with a savoury depth, and a former Supreme Champion at the British Cheese Awards. It bakes beautifully or slumps across the board when ripe.
For a lighter touch, Perl Wen, also from Caws Cenarth, is an organic brie-style cheese, clean and citrusy with a soft centre. Together with the Tunworth Camembert and Colston Bassett Stilton, these prove you can build a complete, distinguished board without leaving Britain.
How the Cheese Is Delivered
This is where ordering cheese online can fall down, so it's worth being specific.
Cheese ships chilled on a temperature-controlled service so it arrives in the condition it left us, with soft cheeses still ripening and firm cheeses holding their structure. We deliver across the UK, and you don't need to be a trade buyer or order a whole wheel.
When it arrives, store it in the fridge, but always take it out a full hour before serving. Cold cheese tastes flat. A little warmth wakes up the aroma and softens the texture, and that's when an artisan cheese earns its keep.
A note on keeping it well. Wrap cut cheese loosely in waxed or greaseproof paper rather than cling film, which suffocates the rind and traps moisture. Keep blues away from softer cheeses in the fridge so the flavours don't migrate. And buy what you'll eat within a week or so: artisan cheese is alive and at its best fresh, not stockpiled.
What to Serve Alongside
A board is more than cheese. The accompaniments are what tie it together.
Membrillo, the Spanish quince paste, is the traditional match for Manchego and aged cheeses, firm enough to slice and lay across the board. English honeycomb drizzled over a blue or a soft cheese is a simple, memorable pairing. Add walnuts, a few grapes or figs, and oatcakes or sourdough as a neutral base. You'll find both in the pantry larder.
For drinks, pour a tawny port with the blues, a structured red with the hard cheeses, and a crisp white or good cider with the soft. Keep it simple and let the cheese lead.
Why Buy Cheese from Beleaev
We're a London caviar and gourmet house, and we treat the cheese the way we treat the tins: a small, deliberate selection, handled on a cold chain, and described honestly. No filler, no fridge clutter, just the British and French classics we'd serve ourselves. If you want to understand how the pieces fit together first, our companion guide explains how to build the perfect cheeseboard.
FAQ
Where can I buy artisan cheese online in the UK?
From specialist gourmet retailers who ship on a chilled service and name the milk, region and style of each cheese. Beleaev delivers a curated edit of British and French classics across the UK, including Tunworth Camembert, Comté Vieux and Colston Bassett Stilton.
How is cheese delivered without spoiling?
On a temperature-controlled courier. Cheese is kept cold from us to your door, so soft cheeses arrive still ripening and firm cheeses hold their structure. Refrigerate on arrival, then bring it to room temperature an hour before you serve it.
What cheeses make a good starter selection?
One soft, one hard and one blue. A Tunworth Camembert, a Comté Vieux and a Colston Bassett Stilton cover all three with real contrast across milk, texture and strength. Add a washed-rind Golden Cenarth as a wild card if you want a fourth.
How much cheese should I order per person?
Around 60 to 70g per person if the cheese follows a meal, or closer to 120g if the board is the main event. For a group of six after dinner, three 150g to 250g cheeses are comfortably enough.
Can I order British cheese only?
Yes. Tunworth Camembert, Golden Cenarth and Colston Bassett Stilton give you a soft, a washed-rind and a blue, all made in Britain. Add Welsh Perl Wen for a lighter fourth and you have a complete board of home-grown artisan cheese.
Order Your Cheese Selection
A great cheese order is small and balanced: one soft, one hard, one blue, and something to surprise. Delivered cold, served warm, finished with a little quince paste and honeycomb.
Explore the Beleaev gourmet collection, starting with the Tunworth Camembert and the Colston Bassett Stilton. Pair them with essentials from the pantry larder, and read our companion guide on how to build the perfect cheeseboard for the full method. Delivered chilled across the UK.
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