A cheese made on a Dorset farm has scooped a top award at the World Cheese Awards.

The prestigious prize wraps up a successful year for Stalbridge-based Dorset Blue Vinny, which was awarded Gold at the recent World Cheese Awards in Bergen, Norway.

It comes after the traditional blue cheese won Best Blue and People's Choice at the Great British Cheese Awards in October and two further awards at the Dorset Food, Drink and Farming Awards in September.

Emily Davies, of Dorset Blue Vinny, said the cheese's success earlier in the year prompted the decision to enter the World Cheese Awards.

"We’d been having an encouraging year so thought, why not give it a go and enter. We were thrilled when the list of winners were announced and there it was, a big ‘gold’ next to our name," she said.

The World Cheese Awards showcase the best cheeses from across the globe and are judged by a panel of specialist cheese judges.

Some 3,742 cheeses from 41 different countries were entered with the top cheeses being awarded a gold, silver or bronze award.

Resurrecting a 300 year old recipe, the Davies family have been producing Dorset Blue Vinny at their North Dorset farm for almost 40 years.

The cheese is made with fresh milk from their herd of 270 Friesian dairy cows.

The cheese takes 24 hours to make and for the first few weeks it is turned by hand every day and is then turned weekly. It takes up to 20 week for the cheese to mature.

The Davies family are the only commercial producers of Dorset Blue Vinny.

Winning People's Choice at The Great British Cheese Awards meant a lot to the family because they were voted for by the public. And for the other categories judges included prestigious cheese mongers and writers, representatives from Peter’s Yard and Great British Chefs (who organised the awards) and familiar faces including Adam Woodyatt, who is best known for playing Ian Beale on Eastenders and Jane Devonshire, who won Masterchef in 2016.

The Dorset Food, Drink and Farming Awards honoured Michael Davies of Dorset Blue Vinny with the Food & Drink Hero Award for his contribution to the Dorset food industry over the past 35 years.

Dorset Blue Vinny cheese was also awarded Best Product at the awards.

See dorsetblue.co.uk for more information on Dorset Blue Vinny.