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One of the best things about a real cheese shop is the smell. Walk in, inhale deeply and understand why cheese was once described as milk's leap toward immortality. It is the aromatic sterility of the supermarket cheese counter, plus the depressing miles of yellow paving blocks made from a highly automated processed method in 'dairies' or 'creameries' that have as much connection with the countryside as baked bean factories, that dampens the adventurous cheese buyer's spirit. Wrapped in sweat-inducing plastic, these multiple 'mousetraps', whose only virtue is their cheapness, by and large make the experience of buying cheese in a supermarket as different from a proper cheese monger as, well, chalk from cheese. This, plus, an almost paranoid reluctance on the part of the former to sell cheese other than damagingly over-chilled or in any real state of flavour-rich maturity.

Today cheesemongers, thanks to the United Kingdom Cheese Guild, are better trained than ever before. Highly committed enthusiasts to a man and woman, many buy direct from the farm or from trusted factors and wholesalers. Only too willing to field queries on anything and everything from the secrets of cheese making to the best cooking cheeses or how long to keep a piece of Brie, they will help you plan a perfect cheeseboard, or find your favourite Cheddar. A good cheese shop will have a display to tempt even the most fromage-phobic, the cheeses clearly labeled and laid out on attractive counters, slate slabs or straw baskets.

We all love to try before we buy, and there will be some to sample, and someone behind the counter who can tell us where they come from, what milk they use, how they were made and how long they have matured. The huge growth of artisan cheese makers along with an explosion of varieties, ensures there's a good story behind every cheese - a maker who has swapped a city desk for the rural good life, a cheese named after a local landmark, or a rediscovered 18th century territorial hard cheese recipe.

There may be useful tips on how to store cheese, leaflets and recipes to takeaway, staff able to tell you the merits of pasteurised and unpasteurised cheese or what makes a cheese vegetarian. In addition, there will be a changing selection of interesting and unusual cheeses alongside the core range. Finally, there will also be an attractive array of crackers and pickles, chutneys and cheeseboards, cheese knives and plates to enhance the whole wonderful cheese buying and eating experience.

Just say cheese, please - and smile.

by Clarissa Hyman