Phil Hulland leads me into his large fridge unit and the smell is unmistakable – ripening cheese.

There are hundreds of four kilo pieces of Elgar Cheddar, named after the composer who was born a spit away in Lower Broadheath.

In here there is a mighty symphony of aromas with cheeses piled high and numbered according to their production dates. On a nearby rack there are cheeses from June 28 last year.

Smaller truckles are laid out in trays, maturing and ready to be waxed and packaged for Christmas Day tables in Worcestershire and further afield.

Inside the main unit of Lightwoods Cheese at Heath Grange Farm are the storage booths for the gorgeous soft cheeses, the blue cheeses being kept apart from their unstained cousins to prevent cross-contamination.

These smaller cheese look like they have been cut from marble and rest in darkness behind white curtains, like revered holy relics.

The religious reference is appropriate because the mission that cheese-maker Phil, 44, has embarked on has required a large amount of faith, both in his own skills and in the demand for artisan products.

Phil bought the business, originally based a mile away in Cotheridge, in 2003 when he quit his job selling car components. “I just got bored of it but I had not thought about making cheese at all,” says Phil, whose uniform these days is a set of white overalls and a blue hair net.

“I am not a creative person but cheese-making appeals to such creativity as I have and I always knew I could do the marketing.”

Moving to his purpose-built current site in 2006, Phil has continued to perfect his own style of cheese-making and expanded the range. In addition to the Elgar Cheddar and its smoked variety, there is Little Urn, a hard, sweetish ewes’ milk cheese made to commemorate England’s Ashes victory in 2005; two goats milk cheeses – Capria, a camembert-style, and Rhapsody, a soft blue; and occasionally there is Skip, a soft ewes’ milk cheese.