The Little Cheesemongers’s North Wales Food Tour

Guest Blog post by Gemma Williams.

Post updated 08/11/2022

On holiday or even day tripping I just love to get a feel for the area I’m visiting by tasting the local delicacies. Maybe it’s just the way my brain is wired but I can almost feel a ‘tone’ of the culture and lifestyle of a place through food.

North Wales has plenty to offer it’s visitors for a foodie tour.   

My name is Gemma Williams and I’m The Little Cheesemonger.

My little award winning shop is based in the popular shopping destination, Prestatyn High Street. In the shop I have a wide range of cheese as you would expect but I champion local produce and I specialise in Welsh Cheese in particular.

I love welcoming visitors in the shop and pointing out all of the fabulous, fine cheese, real ale producers, preserves makers, coffee roasters, confectionary, bakers and fresh produce right on our door step. If you are planning a visit to North Wales, you can get a sneak preview on our online shop which is very popular for sending Welsh cheese gift boxes and Welsh Gift  Hampers across the country for birthday and thank you gifts.

During the Summer, wedding season is in full swing and you’ll see many videos of my cheese wedding cakes popping up on my social media account.

A career in cheese was not something I had planned for. Becoming a Cheesemonger originally in Scotland really stuck with me, I decided my home of North Wales needed a champion for local cheese & produce. This is not just cheese, it goes far beyond that. Cheese connects me to amazing people whether that’s producers or customers. Cheese links me with nature, animals, earth, and weather. Some of these things you can even taste in the cheese! Don’t believe me? Then come visit me I’ve got lots to show you and I’ll open up new experiences in cheese you never thought existed!  

Let me take you on a quick virtual foodie journey tour of my favorite North Wales Food producers that I enjoy stocking on the shelves of The Little Cheesemonger.  

Cheese - Cosyn Cymru : Carrie Rimmes is a cheese maker based in Tregarth near Bangor. Carrie creates a small range of unpasteurised Ewe’s milk cheese from hard to soft. - Brefu Bach a small semi soft cheese that melts like a ball of ice cream, delicate and sweet. - Also Calan, Olwyn Fawr and Chwaral are hard ewes milk cheese ranging in style and taste. It’s a seasonal treat as sheep don’t have a milk supply all year round so we enjoy it greedily while it’s available in season.  

Cheese : Caws Rhydydelyn on the Island of Anglesey makes a delicious blue cheese called Mon Las. They milk and breed their own herd on the farm keeping on generation after generation. The blue is firm with a nice  piquant blue pinch and farmyard tang. They use a special salt in making of the cheese which is made on the Island Halen Mon. 

Coffee: Mug Run in Rhyl. Tim is our local coffee bean roaster and keeps us in a constant supply of lovely fresh coffee beans which we grind to order in the shop. Tim started out his business small, roasting beans using his garden shed. You’ll be please to know Tim is no longer roasting in a shed but we do stock his house blend of coffee know as Shed blend. Tim changes our coffee supplies with what’s best in season so we always have the best. 

Sweet treats: Scarlett Angel In Pwllheli are know for their deliciously naughty fudge, boozy preserves and the just can’t stop eating melting moment biscuits. I always add these to our gift hampers everyone needs a treat right now. 

Gin: We are not short in supply if craft Gin in North Wales an I stock gin from four different producers with something to suit everyone.

Preserves & Welsh Honey

We're spoilt for choice with chutneys, preserves and honey. We stock preserves from local growers to celebrity chefs . One of our honey producers is just 2 miles away “as the bee flies” and another honey comes from an extremely rare, native Welsh black bee! The only bee known to not mind flying in the rain!  

All these amazing Welsh producers are available to browse on our online shop. Treat yourself to dine in cheese, send a loved one you are missing a hamper, you can do it all at www.thelittlecheesemonger.co.uk or give us a call on 01745 852954. You can of course also pop over to Prestatyn High Street and take your time perusing all the local small businesses that unusually dominate the whole High Street top to bottom!