Black Isle cheese man looks to turn Easter Ross orange

A BLACK Isle man undeterred by the loss of a ferry link between Cromarty and Nigg has set his sights on turning Easter Ross orange this summer.

Jon Palmer of The Cheese House in Cromarty had been accustomed to welcoming visitors from north of the Cromarty Firth via the ferry to his shop in the Black Isle royal burgh.

With the ferry schedule blown off course by berthing problems, Mr Palmer has decided to adapt an old tradition and take his wares to the people with regular forays around Ross-shire in a converted van.

His mobile cheese shop — specialising in Dutch and local varieties — is now heading to Dornoch via Portmahomack, the Seaboard communities of Hilton, Balintore and Shandwick and other settlements on route such as Fearn and Kildary every Wednesday.

Said Mr Palmer: “I have started with a basic schedule stopping in various key locations but I am very happy to stop anywhere on the way. It would be great if anyone who wanted to buy cheese left an orange flag or piece of orange cloth by their front gate.

“That would tell me where to stop and who my customers were each week. I believe they used to have a similar system for milk and egg deliveries in the old days but it wasn’t an orange flag — but then again they didn’t have the chance of buying Dutch cheese!”

• To find out if your house is on the route there is a map on the website: www.cromartycheese.com. If it’s not, Mr Palmer says he’ll “be happy to make a detour”.

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