It’s been an incredible journey opening a cheese shop. Despite all the research, all the planning, all the help, support, and favours from family, friends, and the wider community, it has been a journey we couldn’t have imagined.
The best news is that we are almost there. We have a grand vision for how the shop will become a hub of this community we love so much, but the first step is opening a welcoming place for people to buy exceptional cheese. So the answer to the question: ‘when are you opening the cheese shop?’
That day will be Saturday 13 November 2021.
On that day, we’ll be opening to coincide with the Clocktower Market – the place where we first started selling cheese – so we’ll be open between 10am and 4pm, selling British artisan cheese and wines that pair beautifully with them.
Our vision is for Little Mouse to be a cheese shop and tasting room. That means we want to have a space where people can sit in and enjoy cheeseboards with pairing drinks. For people to mingle and chat and enjoy some of the best produce in the comfort of their community. This is a huge project – large 1850s buildings do not play terribly nicely, and embarking on a large building project, whilst importing specialised equipment from Europe during a pandemic has given us our fair share of challenges!
This is our schedule for bringing our vision for Little Mouse to life:
Saturday 13 November 2021: cheese shop soft opening
Thursday 18 November (if our fridges arrive!): full cheese shop opening
Late November-Christmas: tasting room and evening test events (booking only, join our mailing list for invites)
Early 2022: frontage renovation – this is a big one! Restoring the front of the shop to its beautiful original
March/April 2022: full cheese shop and tasting room opening