I came to Scotland for a holiday - now I champion its cheese

When Tanny Gill came to the UK on a working holiday in 2003 he knew next to nothing about cheese.

Originally from Pune in India, he ended up getting a job producing Isle of Mull cheddar in Tobermory and his eyes were opened.

Since then he has worked in the industry and his passion for the product has just seen him set up the Scottish Cheese Academy in West Linton in the Borders.

It hopes to provide education, hospitality training and cultural tourism experiences designed to bang the drum for the nation's cheeses - both at home and abroad.

After working on the Isle of Mull for about five years, Tanny moved to London where he learned about European cheeses and then moved back to Scotland in wholesale and distribution, ending up in the Borders where he has made his home.

Along the way he has also been involved in judging at both the world and British cheese awards.

The 51-year-old's new venture came about when he spotted what he believes to be something missing in Scotland.

"If you want to train on cheese, you have to go to England and do a course," he explained.

"But they predominantly would teach you more about English cheeses than Scottish cheeses.

"I realised that actually there's a huge opportunity for us - I'm going to set up a Scottish Cheese Academy where I will champion Scottish cheeses."

The aim is to spread the word about their heritage and culture not only to people in the industry but also to consumers and food enthusiasts through masterclasses.

He said that meant challenging the perception that Scotland had much less to offer than other cheese-producing nations.

Tanny said one of the reasons behind that was historical.

"During the world war, there was a rule passed by the government as part of rationing that anybody who had milk, their extra milk was used to make Cheddar cheese because Cheddar was given away as part of rationing," he said.

He said that saw the end of dozens of regional cheeses many of which "never came back to life".

"Hence, it is now perceived as - oh, you're Scottish, you just have a wee bit of cheddar, that's it," he added.

However, he said the picture was actually very different after a "modern renaissance" in the 1980s.

"Today we have a lot of new cheese producers producing different styles of cheeses in the market," he said.

"So this is what I teach at the academy about the history and the heritage of Scottish cheeses."

He likens the differences in cheese taste to those in wine or whisky as being products of their surroundings.

That variety, he admits, is a lot different to his home land where he said that there was only really one cheese to speak of - paneer.

"You can cook with it and you can have it as a snack, fry it - it is very versatile, quite subtle.

"That was my only experience with cheese before coming to Scotland.

"I had no experience or understanding of cheese as such."

His cheese academy recently became the 1,000th client supported by Business Gateway Scottish Borders since the launch of its partnership with South of Scotland Enterprise.

He said they had provided valuable support and been "extremely helpful" in helping him set up the business which is only a matter of weeks old.

At present, it is a one-man operation but he hopes that might change in the future.

"I will bring in more people, depending on how things progress," he said.

Which could mean more graduates of the Scottish Cheese Academy in years to come.