Their Cornish Blue recently won the Tesco Cheese Challenge

The Cornish Cheese Company is run by Philip and Carol Stansfield at Upton Cross near Liskeard.

It has qualified for the finals of The Milk Development Council's (MDC) Awards for Dairy Innovation.

Their Cornish Blue cheese recently won the Tesco Cheese Challenge award, beating more than 80 other British- made cheeses.

The MDC is doing something to encourage farmers and to promote diversification Philip Stansfield

Cornish Blue is a creamy, gorgonzola style cheese which is usually eaten young.

It was described by Tesco cheese buyer, Mike Seymour, as "one of the cheese world's best kept secrets".

It is the only hand-made blue cheese produced in Cornwall, and was the first cheese produced by the Stansfields using milk from their own herd of Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle.

The company also produces Cornish Camembert and a Farmhouse Cornish Brie.

Mr Stansfield said: "The MDC is doing something to encourage farmers and to promote diversification, so I thought it was worth entering.

"We are also planning to expand the business so we could see that this might be an opportunity to help us to develop the cheeses and the business further."