The Clothier family-run Wyke Farms in Somerset started in the early 1860s and are now the largest independent milk processors in the UK. They buy 130m litres from 110 farms in a 35-mile radius.

The business produces approximately 14,000t of cheese per year and has an annual turnover of approximately £75m.

It is notable that the Union Jack features strongly on the packaging, ensuring that consumers can buy British if that is their preference. Irish cheddar is one of the major competitors for Wyke Farms.

Wyke Farms have embraced social media and are using it very successfully to communicate their brand’s unique story and their family heritage.

“There is a personality around the brand, modern consumers are more interested in how their food is produced,” they explained.

Wyke are also placing a major marketing emphasis on environmental sustainability, with a “100% green” campaign.

In September 2013, they opened a new £5m anaerobic digestor (AD), which provides heat and power for the cheese plant and will sell surplus biogas to the grid once a gas upgrading plant is upgraded at the end of the year.

The AD plant is fuelled with dairy slurry, pig slurry and cheese plant waste.

Backed by Government supports, they have also installed 117 solar panels on the roof of their dairy sheds. The prevalence of solar panels was very noticeable during our short tour of Devon and Somerset.