Above Lake Thun, Daniela is making cheese this morning whether you come or not. You just get to be there.
She has been awake since five. You walk her farm with her, past the cows, pigs, sheep, hens, rabbits and guinea pigs, then sit down to breakfast off her own land: butter she churned, eggs from her hens, her cheeses from a few months to over a year, cured bacon, bread, jam, fruit, coffee. Raw milk from that morning if you want it.
Then she makes her batch of the day and you watch. Copper cauldron, curd, press. She explains it while her hands keep working and answers anything you ask. Nobody hands you an apron, because the moment a visitor makes the cheese it stops being real.
Then the aging cellar, and time with the animals.
We leave Interlaken at 8am and drive over Beatenberg into the Justistal: no through road, no cable car, nothing for sale. The van parks at the farm, so there is no walking on this tour at all. Back by noon, eight travelers maximum.
Ask her why the cheese tastes like that and she'll talk about the grass. This is limestone country, the water vanishes underground, and what grows here is drier and wilder than anything in the valley below. It goes into the cows and comes back out in the cheese. Downstairs is the aging cellar: wheels on wooden boards, and the brine bath she has kept running with the same salt for over ten years. Then time with the animals, and time to ask her things. She lives up here May to September, up at five and finished at nine at night. She'll answer anything. Your guide is Pierre, who runs Swiss Local Adventures. You'll know who is picking you up before you get there. Daniela speaks Swiss German and someone translates, which tells you roughly how much of this was set up for visitors. Tuesdays and Thursdays, May through September. Eight travelers maximum, guaranteed. If the weather makes it unsafe we tell you early, and you get a full refund or another date.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
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