Barons Court Gourmet Cheese Shop: 9.30am Stilton Run

Palliser Road is residential in a way that most cheese shops are not: plane trees, stucco terraces, a school run at half past eight. Neal's Yard Dairy's Barons Court branch sits at 55 Palliser Road, London W14 9EB, and it opens at half past nine on Thursday and Friday, at eleven on Tuesday and Wednesday, and at nine on Saturday. Sunday and Monday are closed, so the weekend window is a single day.

This is the smallest of the five shops and the one that behaves most like a neighbourhood grocer. The counter faces the door, the cheese is stacked close enough to read the labels from the threshold, and the staff know the regulars by the cheeses they buy rather than their names. There is a ramp at the entrance, the tills take cards only, and no part of the shop is trying to be a restaurant.

The company behind it was founded in 1979 by Randolph Hodgson in a then-derelict corner of Covent Garden, and this branch carries that history without ceremony. The trade here is domestic: a wedge for the weekend, a piece of blue for a supper, something soft because a friend is coming. That shapes what is on the counter, which tends towards cuts that will survive a few days in a fridge rather than fragile pieces sold on the day they peak.

The pricing ladder here rewards buying a little more than you planned. A 250g piece of cheddar costs less per gram than a 100g sliver, and the blues are priced in ascending pieces, so the smallest piece is not always the best value. Ask what the next size up costs before you settle, and the counter will usually find a piece that lands close to a round figure.

Stichelton is the reason to make the trip. It is sold from £14.45 for the smallest piece and it is an unpasteurised blue made in the style of a Stilton, with the damp-cellar smell that phrase promises. Appleby's Cheshire starts at £11.80, Ogleshield is £10.25 for a sixteenth of about 300g, and Kirkham's Lancashire starts at £14.50. Westcombe Cheddar sits at £7.65 for 250g if you want something milder for a child's sandwich.

One blue and one hard cheese is enough for a household of two. Buy the blue last if you are walking home in a warm coat, and keep it away from the butter in the bag, because a Stichelton will scent everything it touches within an hour.

Cheeses arrive here as whole wheels and large blocks, and are cut down behind the counter rather than pre-wrapped in a central kitchen. That is the whole argument for shopping in person: you can ask for a piece that includes the rind, or one from the centre of the wheel where the paste is softer, and the cheesemonger will find it for you.

A Stichelton wants something sweet and something fortified. Quince paste, a pear, or a spoon of honey will do, and a glass of port or a tawny madeira is the classic pairing for a reason: the sweetness softens the salt while the alcohol cuts through the fat. If you are not drinking, a ripe pear and a few walnuts are enough. The shop sells no wine, so buy that elsewhere on the way home.

Ogleshield behaves in the opposite way. It is a washed-rind cheese from Somerset and it melts better than almost anything else on the counter, which makes a 300g sixteenth the right size for a fondue for two or a tray of toasties for four. Buy it on a Thursday and it will still be good on Sunday.

Thursday and Friday mornings are the best of it. Half past nine is early enough to catch the shop before the lunch trade and late enough that the counter has been dressed. Tuesday and Wednesday open at eleven, which makes them the days to avoid if you are on a tight schedule before work. Saturday from nine is busiest, and by four in the afternoon the blue is often down to its last few pieces.

Skip Sunday entirely. The shop is shut, and so are most of the nearby cafes, which turns a cheese run into a pointless errand. Monday is the other dead day.

From the shop, Barons Court station is a few minutes east, with the Piccadilly and District lines running through it. Walk south instead and you pass Margravine Cemetery, a quiet Victorian burial ground that has become a nature reserve, then reach Fulham Palace Road and the river beyond it. Fulham Palace and its walled garden are about twenty minutes on foot, and the riverside path towards Putney is flat the whole way.

That route works well in reverse if you want the cheese to be the last stop. Buy bread and something to drink near the river, walk back up, and pick the cheese up on the way home.

Neal's Yard Dairy Barons Court, 55 Palliser Road, London W14 9EB. Hours: Monday closed; Tuesday 11am to 6.30pm; Wednesday 11am to 6.30pm; Thursday 9.30am to 6.30pm; Friday 9.30am to 6.30pm; Saturday 9am to 6pm; Sunday closed. Card payment only; wheelchair access available. Barons Court is the nearest station.

A wrapped wedge will survive an hour on the tube without harm, but a soft cheese will not enjoy a hot carriage in July. Ask for an extra layer of paper, keep the bag off the floor of the train, and put the cheese in the salad drawer as soon as you are home. If you are buying for the same evening, leave it out on the counter for half an hour before serving. A blue straight from the fridge tastes of nothing but cold, and a hard cheese sliced thin at room temperature will show the crystals that make a 24-month cheddar worth the money.