Long Paddock Cheese

An ambitious vision
To make, care for & supply a range of high quality & beautifully presented cheeses & fresh dairy products, made by respecting traditional methods, that Australians & others seek out & love. To do so through a short & sustainable supply chain between our local dairy farmer partner, our cheesemakers and your home. And to teach others how to do the same.

An integrated approach for our ambitious vision
The 2 parts of our business – production (the Fromagerie) and education (The Cheese School) – are fully integrated. We train existing and prospective cheesemakers and small-scale dairy producers in The Cheese School, as well as use the Fromagerie for more advanced training in commercial-scale cheese production and ripening. We also demonstrate the equipment we have chosen to work with, the design & fitout of the Fromagerie, and the way we run the business . It’s a model that others can learn from and then go out and set up their own successful artisan dairy operations.

The cheeses and fresh dairy products we make & sell are high quality artisan dairy products, ripened to perfection, and beautifully presented. Again, we are keen for others to learn from us in all respects, and apply that learning to their own small-scale operations. In that way, we hope to see Australia’s artisan dairy industry grow and become much more sophisticated, but still with relatively small-scale craft-based operations and short supply chains.

The Fromagerie has capacity to process 4000 to 8000L of milk a week into both soft & hard cheese, plus a range of fresh dairy products. It has purpose-built ageing facilities, wrapping/packing room and finished goods storage, as well as rooms for raw materials, pasteurising, washing etc. The Cheese School includes a small demonstration dairy room that is used for both training and small-scale dairy production purposes.

Long Paddock Cheese & The Cheese School business began properly in early 2021, founded by Ivan Larcher and Alison Lansley. Ivan is renowned throughout the cheese world as an outstanding cheesemaker who is also a great teacher and consultant. Alison was a corporate lawyer for many years, before deciding to follow her twin passions: cheese and education. They were joined not long after the business started by Gaëtan (Gaet) Chapon (General Manager), Alex Coutts (Head of Quality & Affinage) and Romain (Rom) Riesi (Head of Production).

None of what we do, however, would be possible without our small team of skilled & passionate cheesemakers, cheese carers, cheese sellers and cheese teachers.

For our cheesemakers (Rom, Michael, Dom, Lydia, Sophie) the day starts early – receiving milk from the farm, pasteurising it and then starting the cheesemaking process. A lot of planning goes into working out which products will be made & when, and how best to care for them. Our affinage and cut & wrap team (Alex, Zee, Kath, Jordan, Michael) then takes over, providing additional cheese care, as well as filling orders and choosing the cheeses best suited to particular customers. And our selling team (Gaet, Chris, Ruby, Maxine) is constantly in touch with existing & new customers, whether directly through our onsite shop, farmers’ markets, festivals, our online Cheese Club and direct wholesale, or through our distributors.

Ivan splits his time on the ground between Australia and Europe, but when not present in person is regularly in touch with our different teams. He is the guiding light for all of us, as well as our students and many, many cheesemakers around the world.

Alison splits her time between Castlemaine and Melbourne. When we run our professional courses at The Cheese School, she can be found there, helping Ivan and the students, as well as spending as much time as possible with our production, cheese care and selling teams, and attending to the inevitable admin work that every business faces.

Gaet also splits his time between Castlemaine and Melbourne. He heads the Sales team as well as being General Manager, working to support our team and improve our systems and the different ways we do things.

Our Fromagerie and The Cheese School training centre have been purpose-built within 2 old buildings at The Mill Castlemaine, a 19th century woollen mill which has been repurposed as a vibrant mix of creative small-scale producers and sellers of artisan food & drink, furniture, art & bric-a-brac.

The Mill is very well-supported by locals, as well as a significant tourist attraction. For this reason, we set up our own shop there from where we sell our products, side-by-side with other wonderful artisan producers of wine, beer, smallgoods, chocolate, coffee, icecream.

We frequently collaborate with the other food & beverage producers at The Mill, and those in other parts of central Victoria, including running small-scale events and joint product offerings. We are also embedded in and committed to the communities of Castlemaine and central Victoria, including employing local staff and as sponsors & patrons of the Castlemaine State Festival, the Castlemaine Art Gallery and The Theatre Royal, as well as members of Business Mount Alexander.