A cheese shop in Cartmel has been named second best in the United Kingdom by the Sunday Times.

Cartmel Cheeses claimed one of the top spots in a ranking of businesses across the nation published on March 13.

The independent cheese shop is owned by Ian Robinson who runs it with his daughter Steph Robinson.

Ian’s other daughter, Nicola Robinson, and her husband Martin Gott, make most of the shop’s local cheeses two miles away at Holker Farm Dairy. Today, they make up to 10 different cheeses including the popular and well-known St James Cheese.

Ian originally started the business in 2010 with his son-in-law Martin before Martin left to focus on cheese making.

The Sunday Times placed Cartmel Cheeses just shy of first place behind Courtyard Dairy in Settle, North Yorkshire.

They described Cartmel as a 'food lover's paradise’ and praised the cheese shop for supplying Simon Rogan's award-winning restaurants.

Steph said it was a huge privilege to be voted Number 2 best in the UK.

She said: “All thanks to the hard work and dedication of our very small team including Peter, Becky, Lisa and Jane. We all love what we do which makes work so enjoyable.”

Cartmel Cheese prides itself on supporting small local artisan producers by stocking award-winning cheeses from up and down the UK.

Steph said all the cheeses are carefully sourced and matured on-site using a temperature-controlled environment. They make sure to take into account the age and flavour profile of each cheese during this process.

Anything made locally or in the Cumbria area tends to be a best-seller so they are sure to stock up on local soft, hard, blue, goat and washed rind cheeses.

“We want to show off the producers' hard work, craftmanship and love,” she said. “We also listen to our customers, what they want, they get. We wouldn’t be here without their continued support.”