Cheese is one of my favourite things ever and I would literally have a cheese night every night if I could. But as I want my jeans to still fit me, I will have a cheese night every so often as a treat. Because it's one of my favourite things to do, I will share with you my favourite cheeses to have on a cheese board. I will admit, I am not a huge wine connoisseur but I will work on it.
Disclaimer: I am not working with the companies mentioned, I just really love their products.
High end soft cheeses to include on your board
Brillat Savarin - I only discovered this cheese last year. We had it at Maul's cheese and wine bar in Salisbury and bought one from there as it was so amazing. It was pretty expensive, it was a wheel smaller than a camembert but I think it was around £8. However, if you love brie-like cheeses it is definitely worth it as a treat. It's similar to a brie, but instead of being made with milk it's made with full fat cream, so you will only need to eat a little bit at a time anyway. It tastes amazing with honey!
Tunworth - Tunworth is basically the British version of a camembert. We had it cold and it seemed to me creamier and a little softer than a camembert so I'm not sure how it would work if you wanted to melt it. However, I believe this is £8 again in Waitrose so I'd recommend using a camembert to melt as it's a lot cheaper and you don't want to ruin this cheese. Again, great for a treat if you want a high end cheese and tastes amazing if you like brie and camembert.
Lyburn Garlic and Nettle - A flavoured cheese is a must for a cheese board and this one tastes amazing. You can buy this one from Lyburn Farm in the New Forest, so it is pretty local for me. Definitely use your favourite flavoured cheese on your board, they have some in supermarkets, I've had the chive one from Tesco before which is nice.
Budget friendly soft cheeses to include
Brie - Obviously! My favourite is the round Castello brie that they have in Tesco for about £2 but I do love any brie, use your favourite.
Camembert - I feel like a melted camembert is a centrepiece and if you are having a cheese board with lots of other cheeses you might not need it. It's good to have as the main even though, with a couple other bits to go with.
Port Salut - This is good for anyone who doesn't really like strong cheeses, it kind of reminds me of a babybel. This is around £2 I believe, depending on which supermarket you go to.
Smoked Mozzarella - You should definitely choose a smoked cheese to go on your board and this is definitely a good one. It's quite mild so will be good for anyone who doesn't like their cheese too strong.
Boursin - amazing soft garlic cheese to put on bread or biscuits. Always a staple for me!
High end hard cheeses to include
Kirkham's Lancashire - This is a bit like a cheddar but obviously it's made in Lancashire. You can get this from The Fine Cheese Co for £5.80. It's a little more tangy and earthy than a cheddar so it's good if you like cheddar but want to try something with a more unique taste.
Stoney Cross - This is from Lyburn Farm again. It's a little softer than a cheddar and tastes a little more earthy and tangy. Definitely a good one to try if you want to support a local New Forest farm shop.
Budget friendly hard cheeses to include
Cheddar - Everyone's favourite, every cheese board needs a cheddar and you can get lots of different kinds so it's whatever suits you. I do like a classic cathedral city but a lot of local cheese companies will have some form of cheddar if you wanted to support a local supplier.
Red Leicester - I have to admit, I always forget about Red Leicester cheese, but it tastes amazing and is good if you like mild cheese again.
Stilton - You either love it or hate it but every cheese board needs a blue cheese. I haven't really found the right blue cheese for me yet and I don't really like stilton too much, but it's just the easiest option for a budget blue cheese. Replace this with your favourite blue cheese if it's another. I am still on the hunt to find a blue cheese that I like the taste of.
Manchego - I only tried this for the first time recently and really enjoyed it even though it is quite hard an crumbly and I'm more of a soft cheese girl. It's a bit like parmesan but not as strong and you can eat it on it's own easily. I find parmesan too much to eat by itself but I love it on top of pasta!
Pair your cheeses with your favourite wine and charcuterie. I mainly drink prosecco or rose wine but there are lots of reds that go really well with cheese. I like to put different breads, biscuits and meat with my cheese, so just pick your favourite. The best thing about doing your own cheese board is that you can make it personal to you with all of your favourite things on there.
What's your favourite cheese? Let me know in the comments.
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Since I have finished my internship in August, I have had some time to myself over the summer. In that time, I spent 48 hours in Lincoln, and I have also recently been to Hastings in East Sussex.
My boyfriend, Joe, is from Hastings when we aren't at uni together so I go there to visit him from time to time when he's at home and I really like it there.
It's right on the sea and Joe's house is walking distance to everything so I got a lot of steps in. When I drive into Hastings I get to drive along the sea front which is so pretty and it always seems to be nice weather when I go there.
When I arrived in Hastings, we did our usual walk around by the beach and through the town. We have a little tradition of going to this little local seafood shop by the beach and getting some food so we did that on the first day and sat on the beach for a little while.
I also love to get an ice cream when I'm near the sea so we did that too, after eating our seafood. Hastings has so many local seafood restaurants and fish and chip shops, you really can taste the difference in freshness with it being a seaside town.
In the evening, we went for a few drinks but didn't stay out too late.
The next day, we went to the seafront again and played some minigolf. Joe won, I am still yet to beat him but it's going to happen one day!
After spending the day out again, we went to a seafood restaurant in the old town called Whites. The old town in Hastings, is more individual restaurants, shops and pubs as opposed to the new town with things like Primark and Pizza Express. I really like that they have both options.
We had a huge seafood platter which is unlike me because I'm really fussy with food. I just wanted to try it because we were right by the sea and I thought I'd like most of it. All of it was so nice apart from oysters, I don't think I'll eat one of them again in a hurry.
After we ate so much food, we went for a few drinks on the pier. Hastings pier is quite big and since the social distancing rules have come into place, they put a DJ set on the pier with a bar and tables for drinks. I have never had drinks on a pier before so it was something new for me.
Just before leaving on my last day there, we went on a dog walk at a really pretty country park called Fairlight, it had such amazing views to the sea.
I quite like writing about places that I visit in the UK, so I will definitely be doing more 48 hour style blog posts whenever I go anywhere now.
Where's your favourite place to visit for a weekend away?
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I recently received the Master Mindset Diary starter kit from Amanthis. Amanthis is a small stationary business that aims to create affordable stationary.
The diary runs from August 2020 until August 2021, so it's perfect for studying. When I first flicked through the diary, I noticed that each month has a calendar view of the month for you to write things in if you just wanted to see what you had on in the month. There are also weekly pages for planning your availability week by week.
Each page has a positive quote on the top, which I really love and before each month there is a quote to keep you going. My favourite thing about the Master Mindset Diary, is that it isn't just a space where you can plan your time, it also has positive affirmations, space to write goals, productivity levels, moods and achievements.
I'm going to be using my Master Mindset Diary for university, blogging and just life in general because it has already started helping me to plan for the new academic year.
In the starter kit, I also got some Goal Getter pencils, a couple of pens, a list pad and a finance tracker. I will definitely be using the finance tracker while at university this year.
I do really like a diary and most of the time, I prefer a January - January one but this mid year diary is going to help me so much in my final year of uni.
Do you like using diaries to keep organised?
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