'The first time [Blur] went to Japan, they said, you have to say what you like, because the fans will want to give it to you. Serve with pickle(s) and a glass of cider. He'd like to sell to Fortnum's, Harrods, the Ivy even. Anything is fair game for dipping – British asparagus is great right now but also try classic toast soldiers, raw broccoli or give oven chips a go. Churchill Lady, I like; and Cotswold Slapper.

Women, private-members' clubs, booze and drugs, a rumoured tendency to do things like sleep under the snooker table of London's Groucho Club ... (Did he really do that? ', 'And cheese! RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk, ‘Dragon girl’ shares unseen pic before covering 98% of her body in tattoos, Dad turns home into winter wonderland with The Range bargains & divides opinion, Mum shows how to clean washing machine in 3 steps & says to do it every MONTH, October 27: Get ready to select a big new challenge, Savvy salon owner transforms business with HomeSense bargains & it looks amazing, ©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Smash Hits were always very interested in my cheese habit. It's like running a small country, running a farm. He moved to a farm and became a vegetarian. Although we have been buying more mature Cheddar over the last couple of decades, for the ultimate cheese on toast you really want a mild variety. You know what I mean? To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. ', So Roger Crudge and Alex James rebuilt the relevant stone outhouse, and kitted it out with cheese production in mind. And it was feeling dangerous! Pour on a jacket potato while you sing the Hallelujah Chorus. 'Not like Daylesford, where the sheep farmers are too scared to go in!

You can add rosemary and garlic, too. For about a week! They thought I was kidnapping her and taking her to the country to make chutney and babies, which is fair enough, and anyway, I'd probably tried to shag them all before I met her. That's me! I promise I'll try and keep all references to the song out of the article's headline. Don’t let it boil but when it gets hot, stir in any crumbled cheese until it melts. ', Traces of his old life hang around the farmhouse like spangly groupies. He shows me a board, to which is pinned a list of prospective cheese names. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Alex James's Next Big Project is making and selling cheese. It comes in cans in Japan - there's no actual word for cheese in Japanese, like there's no word for 'sushi' in English ...So yeah, there was a connection with me and cheese. But he doesn't care. Ha ha! And being here. Building a cheese factory made sense. For other inquiries Contact Us. Claire saved me from all that. Here, Blur bassist-turned-cheese-maker Alex James suggests five different ways to enjoy a taste. He's going to sell them locally, he says; for example, at the Daylesford Farm Shop, the terrifyingly expensive, hilariously over-staffed organic extravaganza owned and run by JCB heiress Lady Bamford. GOOD sauces are what set fine dining apart from the everyday and they’re easily made.

"The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Anyway, my other cheeses - I want to give them all stupid names. Hmmm ... not sure. A GREAT way to enjoy cheese is to pair it with just one other thing, so that a mouthful of one invites a mouthful of the other in a happy feedback loop. Ha ha! But now they're all here at weekends.'. A GREAT way to enjoy cheese is to pair it with just one other thing, so that a mouthful of … But generally, cheese is like champagne - it doesn't get better with age.

'We're starting with soft cheese because it only takes three days to mature, and other cheeses take three to six months. Blue cheese on a Frazzle is my absolute favourite. But get it right, replicate, bam bam bam, all over, Pret-A-Manger style. It is, James says, more Notting Hill than Notting Hill round here these days. I love the mornings. But ... well, when your friends start going to the Priory ... you wonder: am I going to end up there? He laughs. Alex James laughs a lot, and you can hardly blame him. he now has a Volvo; where once he had the Groucho, he's now got a cheese factory. WITH British cheese sales falling in the coronavirus crisis, it is a great time to get buying. And there was loads and loads and loads of it, so ...'. It's a really hard thing to let go of. I’m also a big fan of cheese and crisps. ', But still, I believe Alex James when he says he doesn't miss being completely immersed in the rock-star life - regardless of how much of it he's holding on to, of the stuff he's shipped out, brick by brick, to the Cotswolds, the elements of city life that he doesn't even realise he's recreated here.

Let’s say you have 150g. He smiles. They threw cheese at me! And they all gave me cheese. Oh. But managing a farm is all about balance. Hee hee!'). A painting of Graham Coxon (the Blur guitarist who introduced James to lead singer Damon Albarn) hangs in the stairwell. And we got married near here, and so it made sense to have our home here. 'Yeah! He and Claire spend at least a night a week in London 'ideally in Claridge's, because there is just absolutely nothing wrong with Claridge's, is there? Bake in a hot oven until gooey. Champagne goes sweet. Alex James got sober-ish, married video director Claire Neate, and renounced his bachelor's pad in Covent Garden and his private-member's lifestyle for a 200-acre farm in a small village located between Chipping Norton and Stowe on the Wold. He's fluent on the subject. Where once he had groupies, an entourage and fans, he's now got sheep ('400 at the moment; more in the spring. UPGRADE your jacket spud Swiss-style for a delicious treat. 'I've got Graham, Graham's got me, and Damon's got himself!' 'I think you could make money from agriculture, if you could get the blueprint on a farm shop right, I really do,' says James. I’m loathe to give an exact quantity as it’s a really good way of using up any leftover cheese.

They'll find out what you like, and give it to you. It is one of a set of portraits of the four members of the group, painted by artist Julian Opie for the cover of Blur's Best Of album. It's much more expensive than running around the Groucho or the Ivy. Plus I was a vegetarian for a long time. I think I was a vegetarian as a guilt trip, an attempt to be passively benign. On a farm, you can be much more benign with a shotgun, than you can with a nut roast. All of which makes my question a touch irrelevant - but he answers anyway. Warm up 150ml of cream in a pan.

And I think, if you know how to make cheese, you're always going to have a bit of cheese, aren't you? View our online Press Pack. 'But you could spend fifty grand renovating crumbling old buildings but it won't add fifty grand to the property. Anyway the rock-star country purchase-of- choice traditionally is a rectory, because they were always the best houses in the village. Line the two box halves in foil, slice the cheese through horizontally and place each half in a separate box. and it’s sensational stuff. A year ago, he met Roger Crudge, a local cheese maker of some standing. Alex is showing me round his farm on a freakishly sunny day in autumn. The fact that Alex James has retreated to a farm in the Cotswolds to make cheese is either the most surprising turn-up for the books ever, or a predictable twist in the narrative of the modern celebrity. He laughs. A year ago, he met Roger Crudge, a local cheese maker of some standing. So we arrived in Japan to this like regal state welcome, ha ha! There are bargains as the closure of restaurants has left many makers with excess stock. Aren't they pretty?

To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. Mad Bitch! And having kids. He makes me try a vacherin; 'It's like ice cream, isn't it?' Being young and in a band. He was famous (the bass player for Blur), very rich, young and pretty, which facilitated all manner of bad behaviour. I fail. They were introduced by James's farm manager, Paddy (who has just finished work on Madonna's stables). The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed, Blur bassist-turned-cheese-maker Alex James picks out his top ten cheeses and his five favourite ways to enjoy them, Alex says cheddar is the best cheese to have on toast and goes great with 'an ice-cold cider watching Match Of The Day', Blue cheese fans should try pairing it with a perfectly ripe pear, For a really good cream sauce, you'll need cream, crumbled cheese or cheddar, egg yolks and a dab of mustard, Anything is fair game for dipping in camembert - but Alex recommends asparagus or classic toast soldiers, Upgrade your standard jacket spud by adding melted cheese, Woman shares three-ingredient mac and cheese recipe and it only takes minutes in the microwave, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).
Did anyone actually die? . While the photographer shoots him, James starts plucking out the chords of the Blur hit 'Country House' on' his guitar, the chorus of which runs, 'He lives in a house, a very big house, in the country ...', the spirit of which attacked those affluent urbanites, who retire to the country the moment the city starts to feel like hard work.
'And I'm writing my autobiography so, I think as long as you've got some outlet for feeling like you're important ... ha ha! 'Claire and I fell in love down here. James wanted to renovate another of the farm's many outhouses. Best enjoyed with an ice-cold cider watching Match Of The Day. I once made a very nice cappuccino with it though. Claire's best friend has moved to a nearby village, where she's opened a gastro pub with a Babington House-style concern attached. . I was the opposite of Paul McCartney. Place in a small jug and microwave on full power until melted. ', He and Claire move in what passes as a glamorous set in the Cotswolds - a part of Britain which is famously populated by A-listers of the Elizabeth Hurley, Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes and Kate Moss variety, anyway. There's a picture of him with one arm draped around Kate Moss and the other around Sam Taylor Wood, in the loo. God, I love the mornings.'. He talks about the evolution of the first cheese ('It happened by accident probably - from horse milk') and about his neighbour Juliet Harbut - 'a wonderful lady, a real mover and shaker in the cheese world.'

And then, in 2003, he called time on all that. From boozy, vegetarian vampire of the Groucho Club, to rural sober family man! ', Alex James is very happy to discuss cheese.