WALLACE and Gromit are not the only ones to profess a love for Wensleydale cheese.

The country's most famous champions of the product have been joined by the judges of what is billed as the cheese Oscars.

The Wensleydale Creamery, in Hawes, North Yorkshire, swept the board scooping no less than eight awards at the World Cheese Awards in London.

The dairy's Mature Wensleydale won the Hugh Young Memorial Trophy for best British cheese, as well as the Fortnum and Mason Cup for best English cheese.

Phil Jones, sales director, said: "I am absolutely over the moon with the awards.

"They really are a credit to our cheesemakers, as well as the dairymen of the Dales that supply our milk.

"We have had a great run of prizes in the county shows, but today's trophies really rank our cheeses as being world-class."

The Yorkshire cheesemakers also took home gold medals for their Cheshire Block and Traditional Cheshire.

The Wensleydale and Cranberry and the new Mango and Papaya fruit cheeses won silver medals, as did the Special Reserve Wensleydale and the Double Gloucester. The firm's Red Leicester took a bronze.

The awards, organised by the Guild of Fine Food Retailers, were held at the Olympia Exhibition Centre.