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Catherine Mead owns Lynher Dairies Cheese Company which is situated on Pengreep Farm, just outside of Ponsanooth, Cornwall. Lynher Dairies produces Cornish Yarg and Cornish Kern. Both Cornish Yarg and Cornish Kern have received many accolades and awards through the years, with Cornish Kern named World Champion at the 2017 World Cheese Awards.

Lynher Dairies is run on strong ecological principles. The dairy is set amongst 12 acres of woodland run under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. It is environmentally sensitive and incorporates natural reed beds for water filtration, storm ponds to collect rainwater, and recycled heating systems for water which run off of its chilling system. In addition to a RIBA Regional Award, the dairy building has also gained recognition from the Civic Trust Awards (UK’s best architectural building) and the Country Land and Business Association (best building in the South).

Life and work
Mead started making Cornish Yarg with the Horrell family in the 1990s. The Horrells bought the cheese recipe from Alan Gray, an enterprising farmer who found a seventeenth century recipe for a nettle wrapped semi-hard cheese in his attic (the cheese taking its name from the backwards spelling of Gray).

When the Horrells retired in 2001, Mead took over the business and built a new dairy on Pengreep Farm, near Ponsanooth, Cornwall. Lynher Dairies sources milk from 12 neighbouring farms.

Mead credits Eurwen Richards and Ali Hannaford for the support, encouragement and feedback through the years that has taken her to where she is today. While Richards has been a fount of cheese specialist knowledge, Hannaford has been instrumental in helping Mead shape business decisions.

Community and Charity Work
Mead is the Vice Chair of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association. In addition to cheesemaking, Mead is active in the Cornish community, currently serving as a Trustee of the Cornwall Food Foundation, the charity behind Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall apprenticeship program and as a Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall.

Previously, Mead has been a Trustee of the Duke of Cornwall's Benevolent Fund and the High Sheriff of Cornwall.