A welcome addition to Uppermill’s High Street, Tyromancer opened in May 2026, bringing a dedicated artisan cheesemonger to the village.
You’ll find it at 76 High Street, opposite Caffè Grande Abaco, in the former Caffè Grande Veloce premises. Veloce has moved a few doors down to number 84, which used to be The Flower Shop. Are you keeping up?
The shop
Owner Huw James came to cheesemongering from a career helping fashion and technology brands design their shop experiences. Now his attention is on a rather different kind of counter.
The emphasis is on British and Irish cheese, with a smaller selection from continental Europe, alongside wine and provisions such as chutneys and gluten-free crackers. In a July interview with the Saddleworth Independent, Huw explained that he deals directly with farms and speaks to the cheesemakers, learning how their cheeses are made and bringing those stories back to the shop.
Check out their Instagram page to see what’s on the slate. Huw’s enthusiasm for cheese is palpable, and the conversation and stories behind the cheeses are all part of the experience. Oh, and you can taste them too. Being able to try something before having a piece cut just for you is one of the pleasures of buying from a cheesemonger that a plastic-wrapped supermarket cheese just cannot replicate.
And the name? The name comes from tyromancy, an old practice of telling fortunes from the patterns in cheese.
On the slate
The selection changes, but here are a few of the cheeses that have appeared on the slate, along with a little about the people who make them. Check what’s on the counter when you visit.
Classic regional cheeses
- Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire. The Kirkham family make it on their farm near Goosnargh, Lancashire, from their own cows’ raw milk. It is the last farmhouse Lancashire still using the old two-day curd method, and it has a crumbly, buttery texture.
- Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. David and Jo Clarke make it from their own herd’s raw milk. When they started in 2005, nobody had made raw-milk, clothbound Red Leicester for around 50 years. Annatto, a natural plant dye, gives it its colour, and it tastes nutty and mellow.
- Appleby’s Double Gloucester. A clothbound raw-milk cheese from Hawkstone Abbey Farm, on the Shropshire and Cheshire border. The Appleby family revived an old recipe for it in 1986, and it is nutty, rich and a deep orange.
- Appleby’s Cheshire. From the same farm, where the family has made Cheshire since 1952. It is one of very few raw-milk, clothbound farmhouse Cheshires still in production.
- Dale End Cheddar. A clothbound Cheddar from Botton Creamery on the North York Moors, part of a Camphill Village Trust community where adults with learning disabilities live and work. The creamery uses raw milk from the community’s own cows, and the cheese has a tangy bite.
- Gorwydd Caerphilly. Todd Trethowan first made it on his family’s farm in Ceredigion in 1996, and the Trethowan family now make it in Somerset. People call it “three cheeses in one”: a mushroomy rind, a creamy layer beneath it and a crumbly, lemony centre.
Something different
- Eggleston. A small, soft raw-milk cheese from the Primrose Creamery in Nottinghamshire, with a thin orange rind. Young, it is firm and lemony; with age the outer layer turns soft and rich. Its name honours William Eggleston, a farmer who died in Nottingham’s 1766 cheese riot while protecting his cheeses.
- Ashcombe. King Stone Dairy at Chedworth in the Cotswolds created it during lockdown, taking inspiration from the French cheese Morbier. A line of wood ash runs through the middle, and it won Supreme Champion at the British Cheese Awards in 2022.
- Corleggy. A hard raw goats’ milk cheese from County Cavan in Ireland, which Silke Cropp has made since 1985. It is mild when young and becomes earthier with age.
- Creeny. Also from Corleggy, this time a hard raw sheep’s milk cheese. Older wheels are sharp, and some compare them to pecorino.
- Corra Linn. A hard sheep’s milk cheese from Errington Cheese in South Lanarkshire, which the makers wrap in muslin and mature for several months. It is firm and nutty, and it takes its name from a waterfall at New Lanark.
Visiting
- Where: 76 High Street, Uppermill OL3 6AW
- Open: Tuesday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Closed Monday.
- Payment: card and contactless only
- Online: tyromancer.co.uk , on Instagram and on facebook
Pots & Pans Cottage is a ten-minute walk from the centre of Uppermill. For more places to shop, eat and drink in the village, see the shopping guide and the eating and drinking guide.
Header photo by Caroline Ross on Unsplash.