Big Cheese Weekender 2023
13-15 October

About the event

This year’s Big Cheese Weekender is going LARGE! With live market takeovers, interactive cookery demos as well as an online programme brimming with tastings, pairings and cheeseboard inspiration, this is set to be the ultimate cheese-lover’s festival. We are currently putting together the schedule of events, so don’t miss a thing – sign up for updates and the latest Big Cheese Weekender news.

Take a cheese road trip

Launched in 2020, by founders Patrick McGuigan and Tracey Colley, the Big Cheese Weekender returns in October for its fourth year, with three days of free cheese events aimed at celebrating and supporting this sector. We invite you to join us LIVE at one of our iconic cheese venues in London: Borough Market on Saturday and Chiswick Cheese Market on Sunday. And if you cannot join us in person, there will be opportunities abound to transport yourself virtually around the country, from cheesemongers’ counters and dairies to maturing rooms and kitchens. All you have to do is buy the best cheese you can get your hands on, turn up and taste along.

The new dawn of cheese

Already a cheese lover?  Enhance your cheese life: Big Cheese Weekender is your opportunity to EXPLORE different cheeses, EXPLODE your taste-buds and EXPAND your cheese knowledge.   And if you’re new to cheese, then let us challenge your perceptions and open your eyes to this unique world, filled with the most amazing tastes, textures and aromas.    The spirit of the weekend, to support local independent retailers, cheese mongers and makers lives on, but now, enhanced with advanced technology and online deliveries, accessibility to an unprecedented variety of good cheese is at your fingertips.

Join us for this life-changing weekend; whether you’re a seasoned turophile, or just beginning to discover how amazing cheese can be, NOW is the time to UP your cheese game.

Your host

The Big Cheese Weekender is hosted by the Academy of Cheese. The Academy is an impartial, not for profit organisation, set up to promote cheese knowledge, cheese education and careers in cheese and welcomes everyone to spread the appreciation of truly great cheese. The Academy is immensely grateful to its Patrons and Supporters, without whom, could not continue its valuable work.

Get Involved

Use the forms below to find out more about the events, programme etc. or to get involved.

Subscribe for updates

There’s a lot happening before, during and after the Big Cheese Weekender! Give us your email address and we’ll keep you up to date with events, tastings, competitions and much more.

How would you like to get involved?

If you are a cheesemaker, chef, food writer, cheesemonger or industry professional looking to get involved in this years Big Cheese Weekender, we’d love to hear from you. Use the form opposite to let us know how you would like to be involved.

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Previous Big Cheese Weekenders

To celebrate the amazing range of cheeses made by small producers in the UK and to highlight the crisis they faced during the pandemic, the campaign cumulated in the British Cheese Weekender over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend in 2020. The three-day event encouraged the public to enjoy the country’s best cheeses with a series of free, online tastings by the country’s top cheese experts.

Enormous thanks to our Patrons. We wouldn’t be here without you!

Share the love

If you like what you see and eat, please shout about it on social media using the hashtag #BigCheeseWeekender. Please do keep buying good cheese: now, for the weekender and afterwards! Cheese needs you.