David and Mandy Reed fell into their new way of life when David was made redundant. Now they're big cheeses in the world of traditional food. Sharon Griffiths reports.

FROM near-extinction to a major prize winner - Swaledale cheese is a modern success story. And it's all due to a former chef from South Shields and a telesales executive from Reigate - with a great deal of help from one of the last cheesemakers of the dale.

Marjorie Longstaff of Harkerside was one of the last farmers' wives making Swaledale cheese in the traditional way, following a method that probably started with monks in the 11th Century. Among the customers she supplied was the Black Bull in Moulton, where David Reed had once been a chef. He'd moved on, then in 1986, in the space of four days, had been made redundant and become a father for the first time and called in the Black Bull to tell old friends the good and bad news.

"While I was there, they mentioned that Marjorie was retiring and someone suggested, not very seriously, that we should make Swaledale cheese. I knew it was good cheese, that customers in the restaurant always wanted to buy some to take home, but I didn't know much about cheesemaking." Mandy knew even less. She'd been working down south for a company making frozen meals. She often spoke to David on the phone but had never met him until they both went to the same food fair. Love, marriage and a move up north soon followed.

Undeterred - and with nothing to lose - David and Mandy took the new baby up to see Marjorie and asked her advice. "She was brilliant, very keen on us keeping it going and taught us all she knew," says David.

The Reeds went home and started making cheese in a bucket in their kitchen. There was lots of trial and error. "But you learn quickly when you have to," says David. "We had lots of tastings with friends and kept taking cheese back and forth to Marjorie for her to check it out. Other cheesemakers were very generous with their advice too."

Eventually, they got it right, splendidly right. With some North Yorkshire Education Department second-hand 40 gallon boilers converted into cheese vats, they went into production. "Back then we were making 25 cheeses a day and thought that was good. Now we make hundreds."

They moved into a unit on the Gallowfields Trading Estate in Richmond. Their cheeses started winning prizes. In just a few years they have re-established Swaledale - once barely known outside the dale - as one of the great British cheeses. And Mandy especially still seems a bit surprised by it all.

If moving north was a culture shock, then finding herself coping with a new baby and a new career in cheesemaking was another. But she is not the type to be daunted. "I would just take the baby with me, she'd rattle round the van with the cheeses," she says.

Now business is going so well that they have expanded the factory and, to keep pace with increased orders, are planning to extend again and double production.

From the beginning they avoided supermarkets and dealt with small specialist retailers. "We were lucky, "says David, "that just when we started people suddenly become interested in cheese and different varieties. Until then, you just had the big companies producing fairly bland cheese and the public had had enough. They wanted something tastier, more individual."

All over the country people were re-discovering old cheeses and reviving them. Swaledale Cheese found itself part of a national trend. Most of their selling now is done through agents, but, as in their early days, the company still sells through farmers' markets and often David or Mandy will still go out and man the stall themselves.

"It's good to get out. And it's important to meet people and have that direct feedback. They taste our cheese and we hear their opinions instantly. It's the best sort of market research."

Customers are clearly discerning commentators. Swaledale Cheeses continue to win major prizes at the country's cheese shows. "And I never make a cheese specially for a show," says David. "Just walk in and pick any one off the shelf .So I know that all our cheeses are good."

They started with just one cheese, a straightforward cow's milk Swaledale. Now they produce 13 varieties, including organic, made with milk from Hazel Brow Farm at Low Row, ewe's milk, smoked, with chives or Old Peculier ("Very popular as a present for men, that one.") But now David is keen to concentrate on different techniques and textures as well as flavours

Marjorie Longstaff tries all their new cheeses and they still make cheese for her - the ultimate quality control.

Even the Reeds' children who, with typical adolescent contrariness you'd think would be against anything their parents are for, and despite spending their early years squashed in a cheese van, - are keen cheese testers, tasters and eaters.

"They're always ringing up and asking us to bring more home," says Mandy. With everything going so well, how could anyone ever be cheesed off?

Swaledale Cheeses are available from farmshops, delicatessens and grocers throughout the country as well as at most of the farmers' markets in the region.