New stall enters the fromage fray at Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market

Penny Nagle and Marcus Fergusson run Feltham’s Farm in Somerset. Photograph: courtesy Growing Communities

Cheese lovers can soon expect grater things from Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market – with an innovative new stall wheeling into town.

The weekly market, run by local group Growing Communities at St Paul’s Church, will welcome organic fare from a collective of British farms from 14 April.

The new stall is the brainchild of the Organic Cheesemakers Network – a group of farmers who sell their produce directly.

It is made up of Feltham’s Farm in Somerset, High Weald Dairy in Sussex, and Oxfordshire’s Nettlebed Creamery.

A selection of Nettlebed Creamery cheeses. Photograph: courtesy Growing Communities

Penny Nagle, from Feltham’s Farm, wants Hackney residents to experience what makes organic cheeses delicious and sustainable.

She said: “For great cheese, the quality of the milk is essential.

“Organic certification, if you’re an organic dairy farmer, is just that extra layer of environmental auditing, animal welfare and security you can pass onto the customer.”

Kerry Rankine, Growing Communities’ market coordinator, added: “Not only are these farmers producing outstanding artisan cheeses, but they are supporting biodiversity and a healthy soil.

“Organic farms have up to 50 per cent more wildlife than conventional farms and can sequester more carbon.”

Growing Communities’ market celebrated its 20-year anniversary in 2023

The cheeses expected to be on sale are all prize-winners: Feltham Farm’s Gert Lush, which won Silver at the British Cheese Awards last month; Sussex Blossom, a sheep’s cheese from High Weald Dairy, which took Silver at the World Cheese Awards in 2023; and Nettlebed’s Bix, which topped the Best Soft White Cheese category at the British Cheese Awards in 2022.

Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market has been running since 2003. It is open every Saturday from 10am until 2.30pm at St Paul’s Church, Stoke Newington Road, N16 7UE.