The Big Cheese Festival is an annual

food festival A food festival is a festival, that features food, often produce, as its central theme. These festivals have been a means of uniting communities through celebrations of harvests and giving thanks for a plentiful growing season. History Food fe ...

held in July that was established in 2000 and is held in

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

Overview

The Big Cheese Festival is a festival dedicated to

Caerphilly cheese Caerphilly is a hard, crumbly white cheese that originated in the area around the town of Caerphilly, Wales. It is thought to have been created to provide food for the local coal miners. The Caerphilly of that period had a greater moisture conte ...

and events are organised around this theme. The festival is notable for being a major event in the town of Caerphilly, attracting up to 80,000 visitors over three days. The event is also notable for being the only dedicated cheese festival in Wales. Caerphilly aerial

The festival is held in and around

Caerphilly Castle Caerphilly Castle () is a medieval castle, fortification in Caerphilly in South Wales. The castle was constructed by Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare in the 13th century as part of his campaign to maintain control of ...

which is the largest castle in Wales and one of the largest in Europe. The event is free and the castle also allows free entry during the event. No festival was held in 2020 or 2021, as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2022 the festival was hoped to make a return, but due to development work being undertaken at

the council announced they'd host an alternative event named Little Cheese Race. The Little Cheese Race returned in 2023, with the event being spread around Caerphilly town center and expanded to the grass behind Caerphilly Castle.

Focus

The festival focuses on food and drink with street food vendors, a lounge bar area, food halls and live cookery demonstrations by chefs. The food halls contain stalls from local and regional Welsh food and drink producers with an emphasis on

Welsh cuisine Welsh cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Wales. While there are many dishes that can be considered Welsh due to their ingredients and/or history, dishes such as , Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cake ...

. There is also a cheese market with cheese makers from Wales and the rest of the UK. The festival has previously included a Big Cheese Race, a funfair, firework displays, music and other forms of entertainment, including talks, demonstrations, educational activities, and activities for children. Medieval re-enactments are held in the castle grounds, these include battles and displays, and a programme of events is held in the castle's

Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

. The aim is to portray the history, heritage and culture of Caerphilly. Caerph great hall

Big Cheese Race

The Big Cheese Race follows a route around the castle with teams running in relay from the main event site. Teams pass traditional cheese stretchers, adorned with replica cheese

truckle A truckle of cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats ...

s, between team members as they run a lap around the castle grounds. The race has different age categories and each team consists of four people.

Structure and support

The festival is organised and run by

Caerphilly County Borough Council Caerphilly County Borough Council () is the governing body for Caerphilly County Borough, one of the principal areas of Wales. The last full council elections took place 5 May 2022. Political control The first election to the new council was h ...

. The festival has a number of

sponsors Sponsor or sponsorship may refer to a person or organization with some role (especially one of responsibility) regarding another person or organisation: *Sponsor (commercial), supporter of an event, activity, or person *Sponsor (legislative), a per ...

and has been supported by

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

through the Food Festival Grant Scheme. Caerphilly cheese

The festival is held over a three-day weekend, starting on a Friday afternoon, and in 2012 it attracted around 80,000 visitors

Videos

The Big Cheese Festival 2019

References

{{reflist Food and drink festivals in the United Kingdom Caerphilly Annual events in Wales 1998 establishments in Wales