Since 1952 three generations of the Alvis family have been dedicated to making the highest quality cheddar cheese on the family farm situated at the foot of the Mendip Hills, only a few miles from the village of Cheddar – the original home of Cheddar Cheese Making.

Alvis Bros Ltd is the leading UK Organic cheese producer and one of the West Country’s finest Farmhouse Cheddar Cheesemakers. Offering a full range of organic cheddar and UK territorial cheeses under the prestigious Lye Cross Farm Organic brand, together with West Country Farmhouse Cheddar and Traditional Farmhouse cheeses under the Lye Cross brand.

The Alvis Family business has grown steadily; the cheese making is supported by more than 1,000 milking cows on three dairy farms supplying over 7 million litres of milk per year to the Cheese Dairy. The milk from the family’s own farms, together with milk from other farms, is used to produce annually over 2,500 tonnes of organic cheese and nearly 1,000 tonnes of conventional cheddar cheese in the dairy. Traditional methods and skills such as “cheddaring” - the age-old process of turning and stacking the curd by hand - are used together with modern technology to produce cheese under strictly controlled hygienic conditions. A strict quality assurance scheme monitors the cheese making process from milk production on the farms through to dispatch of the finished product. The cheese is matured under carefully controlled conditions for between three and eighteen months and sold via retailers large and small and wholesalers, as well as in the Farm Shop.

In addition the business has a Pig Division which finishes pigs to bacon weight of 110 kg. The whey from the cheese dairy is mixed with cereals and other necessary nutrients to feed the pigs.

The company remains true to its original concept of integration:

Grass - Cows - Milk - Cheese - Whey - Pigs - Manure - Grass

Animal welfare and the total care for the environment are priorities in all farm practices at Alvis Bros Ltd. The use of organic nitrogen in both pig and cow slurry has enabled us to reduce the use of mineral nitrogen as a fertilizer. Slurry is only applied during the growing season when it will be fully utilised by the crops. Crop sprays and pesticides are only used if absolutely necessary and when they are required the lowest level possible is used to achieve control of weeds or disease. No pesticides or herbicides at all are allowed or used on the organic farmland.

Alvis Bros Ltd is also committed to help bridge the gap between food production and the consumer, particularly in the field of educating children.