GUNDENHAM Dairy based near Wellington is celebrating after winning a major prize at the annual Taste of the West Awards staged at Exeter Cathedral.

It beat off stiff competition to win Champion Dairy product for its whole milk. Earlier in the year its whole milk and semi-skimmed milk were awarded the Taste of the West Gold award.

The judges gave the whole milk full marks for its ‘faultless texture and excellent flavour’ that gives the milk a ‘lovely creamy’ taste.

The Cottrell family, who own and run the dairy, said: “For too long milk has been undervalued by the large processors and the supermarkets. For the consumer this has meant the milk they buy tastes nothing like real milk but we are so proud to still be making the real thing and to have achieved such an accolade for it.”

The Cottrell family started selling milk to customers on their doorsteps in the 1920s and the business has grown so that it now delivers its own milk and cream all over the South-West from Bristol to Dawlish and Minehead to Frome.

The whole process from milking the cows to pasteurising the milk and making the cream is still carried out at the farm.