The British Cheese Awards and Great British Cheese Festival lure thousands of cheese lovers from all over the world into the UK to see, taste and buy over 1,000 different British cheeses.
Master classes, workshops, and samplings of the region's food and drink are highlights of the annual festival.
The British Cheese Awards and Great British Cheese Festival coincide with British Cheese Week which takes place in late September and early October. The main public attractions of each year's festival include Britain's biggest cheese market, with 100 cheese makers from Britain and Ireland.
Britain now produces more cheeses than France. HRH Prince Charles has entered cheeses in previous British Cheese Awards.
An adjacent Best of British Marketplace features artisan producers, many of them local. More than 900 cheeses are expected to be entered in the awards this year, making it Britain's biggest cheese competition.
The Cotswolds are home to the infamous Cheese Rolling competition at Cooper's Hill and the world-famous double and single Gloucester cheeses.
The annual Cheese Rolling event takes place every spring. Although its origins are uncertain, the event dates back hundreds of years. The Double Gloucester cheeses chased down the 1-in-3 hill are locally made by Mrs. Smart at her farm at Churcham. A prize-winning cheese-maker, she supplies five large cheeses for the downhill races and three smaller ones for the uphill races.
Gloucestershire cheeses also hit the headlines when Wallace & Gromit's Oscar-winning movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, featured Stinking Bishop, made by Charles Martell in his farm at Dymock, on the edge of the Forest of Dean. Supplies of the cheese remain small, but Charles also makes acclaimed Single and Double Gloucester cheeses.
