The Cambus O’May Cheese Company of Royal Deeside – which opened its doors for business just six months ago – has doubled the size of its team and its production in 2010 to cope with demand for its hand-made cheeses.

The company has recently recruited two new people as trainee cheesemakers taking the small team up to five, who currently produce 150kg of cheese per week. From this month, this will increase to 300kg to cope with increasing demand from restaurants in the Central Belt as well as local delicatessens and eating places.

General manager/lead cheesemaker of the business, Scott Sutherland-Thomson said: “Demand has grown really quickly since we first introduced our cheeses to the marketplace in the spring and we have to make more to be able to keep up.

“We now supply more than 40 outlets in Aberdeenshire plus we recently launched our cheese in Edinburgh and the response from restaurants there has been phenomenal.”

The company was established by farmer’s son, Alex Reid, to recreate the traditional farmhouse cheeses that his mother, Barbara, used to make. The company now produces three hard cheeses named after local landmarks – the flagship cheese, Cambus O’May, Lairig Ghru and Lochnagar. A smoked cheese will be added this year.

It currently operates from a small creamery in Torphins, but will begin building a dedicated facility complete with public viewing gallery in Dinnet early next year.