Little slice of Europe in Featherston

OILED UP: Shelves of oil at the C'est Cheese shop in Featherston.

WITH only a week to go before New Zealand Cheese Month finishes, there's no better time to take a trip to Featherston and visit C'est Cheese, a terrific artisan cheese shop and deli.

Opened in a beautifully fitted-out store reminiscent of those found in Europe, C'est Cheese sells speciality cheeses made by 20 different New Zealand producers, including locally made Kingsmeade Artisan Cheese and Cwmglyn (pronounced Coom-glin) Farmhouse Cheese.

There is also a comprehensive range of cured meats, olive oil - the majority of which are Wairarapa labels; chutneys, relishes, breads, crackers and more recently the Blackball Salami Company range.

C'est Cheese is the long-term dream of commercial property manager turned cheese-maker Paul Broughton.

Paul, who trained at the NZ Cheese School and had been making cheese for four years before, always thought Featherston would be suited for the specialist cheese store and deli.

"There were so many positives for choosing this site in Featherston - from its SH2 location, neat old building and the fact people drive past it all day every day," he told me.

He's got a point. I visited C'est Cheese late on a Sunday afternoon before putting Wellington-based friends on the train. My friends wanted to buy local delicious cheeses, crackers and relishes to take home and enjoy for dinner - complementing the Coney Wines wine purchased earlier in the day. In the time we were there, several people came into the store with the same idea.

Paul says it's a common occurrence and his late closing time of 6pm caters to the train commuters returning from the Big Smoke and those visitors returning to Wellington after a relaxing weekend in the Wairarapa.

He enjoys meeting people and offering his advice, when asked, on what cheese is best suited to cooking, what cheese is best enjoyed with fig jam or pan fried in olive oil. Paul even got the nod from celebrity chef and restaurateur Peter Gordon recently.

Gordon posted on his Facebook page: "I was recently down in the Wairarapa, and, as I drove over the Rimutakas into Featherston, what should be there but the most brilliant shop, C'est Cheese.

"Paul Broughton sells only NZ artisan cheese, including several he makes himself, and yummy things to accompany it."

During Cheese Month, a nationwide initiative started last year to celebrate our country's delicious and diverse range of cheeses, Paul has helped create cheese-based degustation menus, invited cheese-makers in-store to meet guests and featured specialty cheeses.

"I think on the whole New Zealanders are becoming more adventurous with their taste in cheese and really are interested in how to pair it with food, wine or craft beer," he says.

If you are thinking of joining one of the many amazing tours in the Wairarapa this summer - such as the Wairarapa Garden Tour, which doubles as a fundraiser for Pukaha Mount Bruce, or Gladstone School's The Scarecrow's Big Day Out - be sure to stop off at C'est Cheese. It'll be ... grate.

Details: C'est Cheese Hours: 10am-6pm, 7 Days. 19 Fitzherbert Street, Featherston