A GROUP of West Dorset school children got the chance to become cheese makers for the day.

Pupils at Thorners CE Primary School, Litton Chesney, headed to local dairy Ford Farm to find out about the process.

They were invited to take part in traditional cheddar making process, placing curds in a mould, pressing it to release the moisture and then turning it out as a whole cheddar, ready for maturing.

The 76 students that took part even learnt about how to grade cheeses through sniffing and tasting.

Mike Pullin, Ford Farm's director was impressed with how the children took to the task.

He said: "‘We were surprised at how popular our Coastal Cheddar was with the age group – even the five year olds. Coastal is an eighteen month mature cheddar and quite strong in flavour. It just goes to show how sophisticated kids’ palates really are and that parents shouldn’t necessarily conform to the popular belief that children only eat mild cheddar."

Part of the day saw children standing on the moulds to help with the making process.

To learn more about the farm and cheese making go to www.fordfarm.com.