SIX months ago Phil Hulland said goodbye to fast cars, boardroom meetings and hours tied to a computer screen. Now he makes cheese.

The 36-year-old is the first to admit that it's a breathtaking change in lifestyle.

For 12 years he had worked for a number of suppliers to the European automative industry in sales and marketing. But he wanted out.

"To put it simply, I was very bored," he said.

"I got to the stage in my life when I wanted to do something else, something more creative for myself. I was tired of big business politics and being a small cog in a big machine where ultimately I had very little control."

It was a chance conversation with a neighbour that pointed him in the direction of Lower Lightwood Farm in Cotheridge and, in particular, Lightwood Cheese, which had been put up for sale by then owner Phil Rogers, who was emigrating to Australia.

"I decided to have a look and spent a couple of days with Phil Rogers to see what cheesemaking was all about. I thought it was tremendous, a magical process."

Six months later, Phil still gets that same buzz when the 2,000 litres of milk arrives at 6.30am and within hours 200kg of cheese is sitting on the cheese press.

"Fortunately, when I took over Lightwood Cheese, Phil Rogers' cheesemaker Dudley Martin stayed on. He is very experienced in cheese making.

"I couldn't have taken on the business and learned the art of cheesemaking from scratch without him. It would have been just too much to run the business and learn the art of cheesemaking.

"Lightwood Cheese has a wonderful variety of cheeses which have been honoured by chef Rick Stein's Food Heroes."

Phil is putting his years of experience in sales and marketing to good use in his new role.

He has been busy researching and visiting new outlets. But whereas Phil Rogers was pursuing business with supermarkets, Phil Hulland has concentrated on wooing hotels, restaurants and pubs offering good quality food.

He has also been targeting delis and speciality cheese shops and has found the farmers' markets invaluable as a marketing tool to spread the Lightwood Cheese name in new areas.

"Customers who shop at farmers' markets do so because they like to know the origin of the food they buy. I'm about to supply a deli in Ross but I will also attend a monthly farmers' market in the town.

"Here I can speak to the customers directly and, at the same time, advertise the fact that the cheese is also available at the deli.

"They can buy it from me once a month and from the deli the rest of the time. It's a system that works well for me and the deli owner."

Phil and Dudley share the farmers' markets between them. Locally they attend Worcester, Broadway, Webbs of Wychbold, the Talbot at Knightwick and Tewkesbury.

But they also sell at markets further afield in Cheltenham, Hereford, Stratford, Moseley and Winchcombe.

"Before I took over Lightwood Cheese, I was an occasional visitor to farmers' markets, but now I'm very enthusiastic.

"It's a very pleasant way to shop and a very pleasant way to do business."

Phil has made few changes to the Lightwood Cheese range.

"Really, I'm just finding my feet. I've kept the Lightwood Cheese range very much as it was except for a couple of changes.

"I've dropped Severn Sisters semi-skimmed cheese, because I wasn't keen on it and have been pushing the Lightwood Chaser, which is a wonderful soft cow's milk cheese with extra cream. It's similar to a brie or Camembert and is selling incredibly well."

Lightwood Cheese's top sellers remain the Elgar Mature and the Old Gloucester and Phil plans to add new cheeses to the range in the future.

"This first year is financially quite tough but it's just a case of working through it with the knowledge it will improve. It's hard work but at the same time stimulating. There are so many new things to learn.

"Making cheese is something I plan to be doing until I retire so I want to get it right.

"At the moment I'm just getting used to the cycle. We've been surprisingly busy up to Easter, but from now on it should get quite hectic."

Phil is busy renovating the Lightwood Cheese shop at Lower Lightwood Farm.

As well as Lightwood Cheeses, the shop sells sausages, bacon, ice-cream, biscuits for cheese and chutneys and Phil hopes to add more local products to the range.

"One thing I have noticed is that there is a very loyal customer base,"he said.

As well as the shop renovation, Phil is busy organising new leaflets and a new website.

"It's tremendously varied. Being your own boss means you're responsible for absolutely everything and it's quite a challenge."

The Lightwood Cheese shop is usually open weekdays from 9am to 5pm, although occasionally both Phil and Dudley might be out on deliveries.

For details call 01905 333468 or visit www.farmhousecheese.com