We are Rachel and Jacob Hicks, married, and Magdalen Cheese & Provisions is our cheesemonger and provisions shop at 71 Magdalen Road in Exeter. Between us we have twenty years of cheesemonger-ing under our belt, eight of those for Jacob on the Cheeseshift maturation team at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. We opened the doors here in October 2021, choosing to name the shop after the street and the community we are so lucky to be a part of.
The cheese counter is the heart of it. The wine, the crackers, the charcuterie, the tastings, all of it is chosen each week against what is on the counter that week.
British, Irish and Continental cheeses, chosen each Tuesday morning by what is tasting the best that week. Cut to order at the bench, never pre-cut and cling-wrapped. The selection rotates because cheese is a living thing and the counter follows it.
Rare UK grain crackers, traditionally made pickles and ferments, organic unhomogenised milk, whey butter, eggs, sourdough, Pump Street Chocolate, charcuterie from Somerset producers to Italian Piedmont. The shelves are built so a whole cheese board comes home from one shop.
A carefully selected range of natural wine, organic and biodynamic, full-juice ciders and craft beers. The list is chosen each week against what is on the counter that week, not against a wholesale catalogue.
Cheese and wine evenings hosted on the shop floor once or twice a month. We have also supplied cheese for collaborations with Sidwell Street Bakehouse at Exeter Phoenix. Follow @magdalencheese on Instagram for the next date.
The shelves are designed so a whole cheese board, a picnic, or a Sunday-evening supper comes home from one shop. Stock rotates with the seasons and with what the counter is asking for.
Rare UK grain crackers from small bakeries, sourdough from Sidwell Street and Uprising, traditional plain biscuits for the milder cheese, oat thins, and the right thin water biscuit for a Stilton.
Traditional pickles, fermented hot sauces, a small chutney shelf chosen for the harder English cheeses, quince paste and membrillo for the manchego end of the counter. Whey butter, organic unhomogenised milk, eggs and Pump Street Chocolate.
Organic and biodynamic wines, full-juice ciders from Devon and Somerset producers, a small craft-beer shelf. We choose the list each week against what is on the counter that week, not against a wholesale catalogue.
Saucisson, salami, coppa, lonza from small Somerset producers and Italian Piedmont. Cut to order or sealed by the piece. The charcuterie ride alongside the cheese on a board, not above or below.
Rachel started behind a Borough Market counter selling Comté for Neal’s Yard Dairy, having been raised on supermarket cheddar and tube-packaged Parmesan. The first taste of properly affined Comté and a good Colston Bassett Stilton changed the trajectory of her working life. She went on to manage cheese shops and counters between London and Devon.
Jacob applied to Neal’s Yard Dairy as a Christmas temp in his final year of university, on the recommendation of friends already there. He stayed. Eight of his Neal’s Yard years were on the Cheeseshift maturation team, the affinage side of the business, ripening and finishing the cheese the dairy buys in from the farms. Neal’s Yard is one of very few British affineurs, and that maturation eye is what Jacob brings to our counter on Magdalen Road every Tuesday morning.
We moved to Devon from London just before the first lockdown in 2020. Exeter is Rachel’s home town. Our family of (now) four has settled in to the community here, and it brings us great joy to share the things we love with the people who come through our door.
“Our selection process starts with a product that tastes amazing, but the how, why and where something is made are of equal importance.” From our own shop page, written by us.
Most cheese counters buy from a wholesaler and rotate by season. We rotate by week, against what is hitting peak condition that Tuesday morning. The technical specifics that most non-cheesemongers do not think to ask about.
A retailer buys cheese in and sells it on. An affineur ripens and finishes the cheese themselves. Neal’s Yard Dairy is one of very few British affineurs of any scale, and that is the eye Jacob brings to our weekly selection. The cheese on our counter has been chosen because it is hitting peak condition that week, not because the order arrived.
A working preference for raw-milk unpasteurised farmhouse cheese over factory blocks. Named-herd stories matter to us: rare breeds, traditional starters, single-herd milk, the people behind the wheel. We can tell you where each cheese came from, who made it and which animals were milked for it.
The bulk-starter cheddaring process used by a small group of British cheddar makers is what gives a traditional cheddar its structurally different texture and flavour profile from a commodity supermarket block. We will happily talk you through the difference, with two pieces in front of you, until you can taste it for yourself.
The shelves are not laid out by product category in the abstract. The natural wine, the cider, the sourdough and the crackers are chosen each week against the cheese on the counter that week. Tell us which cheese you are buying, and we will walk three steps with you to the right bottle.
The Guardian quote is about the street, not about us, and that is exactly how we have always liked it. The street is the reason we named the shop after it. The neighbouring indies we share the road with are the reason a half-day on Magdalen Road is a half-day worth planning.
Visit Exeter runs a Magdalen Road quarter guide, the annual Magdalen Road Christmas fair closes the street to traffic, and the road has its own gravitational pull within the city. We are five minutes south of the cathedral, on the edge of the St Leonards quarter, in the indie shopping village Exeter has quietly built up over the last decade.
The shop sits at 71 Magdalen Road, EX2 4TA, on the south side of the road. About five minutes south of Exeter Cathedral, walkable from St David’s station in around twenty. On-street parking on the surrounding residential streets, with a pay-and-display car park at Magdalen Yard a couple of minutes’ walk away.
If your question is not here, pop in to the counter, drop a note to hello@magdalencheese.co.uk, or message us on Instagram.
Yes. The counter is cut to order, every time. Tell us roughly what you are after, for how many people, and whether you want one named cheese or a small selection. We cut from the wheel in front of you, wrap it in cheese paper and write what it is on the wrap.
Wrap it back in the cheese paper we sent it home in, or in greaseproof paper, then loosely in foil. Keep it in the warmest part of the fridge, usually the salad drawer. Bring it out of the fridge an hour before you want to eat it. If a hard cheese grows a little surface mould, scrape it off and carry on.
We run cheese and wine evenings on the shop floor once or twice a month. The format is six cheeses chosen against six pours, with us walking the room through what is in front of you. Tickets sell through Instagram @magdalencheese a couple of weeks ahead of each date.
Yes. Pop in or phone the counter the day before. Tell us the number of guests, whether the board is the centrepiece or a course, and any cheese you definitely want or definitely do not. We will build the board against what is tasting best that week and wrap each cheese separately so you can plate it at home.
A growing number of the cheeses on the counter are vegetarian (made with microbial or vegetable rennet) and we mark them on the chalkboard. The hard aged cheeses are naturally very low in lactose. For coeliacs, almost all of the cheese is gluten free; the crackers and biscuits we stock include gluten-free options, ask at the counter and we will point them out.
Yes, every Sunday, half past nine until half past three. The Sunday close is a couple of hours earlier than the weekday five o’clock, the half-day pattern most of the Magdalen Road indies keep.