Cwmglyn Farm and Middleton Model Railway

Large working model layout with decades running from the 50's through to the 90's changing every few months. Each Cwmglyn (pronounced coom-glin) Farmhouse Cheese is individually handmade from the milk of a single Named Cow, grazing the mixed-herb organic pastures of Cwmglyn Farm — possibly the smallest commercial dairy farm in New Zealand! Bruce in the foothills of the Tararua Range, 9 kilometres South of Eketahuna at Middleton Model Railway. The cheese maker, Biddy Fraser-Davies, milks the cows (in a single herring-bone cowshed) and then makes the cheese in her licensed and purpose built cheese room. The cows are loved and respected and live a stress-free life without pesticides on their pastures, chemical drenches thrust down their throats or ladled on their backs. Their contentment is obvious in the quality of their milk! Cwmglyn cheese is made the traditional way with a wholly natural rind. The wheel (or "truckle" as it is known in Britain) of cheese is usually made from about 20 to 45 litres of milk and spends between 24 -72 hours in a cheese press before going into storage where it is wiped and turned daily. Currently all our cheeses are made from our pasteurised milk. However we have recently applied to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority to make and sell raw (unpasteurised) cheese, which has a much enhanced flavour.