Three Cheeses, Three Scary Movies: Your Halloween Night In Sorted

Halloween does not have to mean elaborate costumes, parties or answering the door every six minutes. There is a great deal to be said for staying in, putting something suitably spooky on the television and settling down with a very good cheeseboard.

Our Halloween Cheeseboard brings together three cheeses that feel particularly at home at this time of year: spruce-wrapped Rollright, deep orange Sparkenhoe Red Leicester and the striking ash-coated Dazel Ash. Add a jar of Black Garlic Pickle and you have everything you need for a Halloween night in. All that remains is choosing the film.

We have matched each cheese with a scary movie according to colour, character and, in one case, a particularly memorable goat.

Rollright and Sleepy Hollow

Soft, glossy and wrapped in a band of spruce bark, Rollright is one of those cheeses that seems made for dark autumn evenings. As it ripens, the paste becomes increasingly soft and yielding, while the spruce brings a distinctive woodland aroma alongside rich, savoury flavours.

So naturally, we are taking it into the woods.

Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow is all mist, bare branches, candlelight and fallen leaves. It is spooky without sacrificing atmosphere, which makes it particularly good viewing when you would quite like to be frightened but would also like to enjoy your cheese in peace.

Rollright has exactly the right mood for it. Bring the cheese to room temperature before serving and let it become properly soft, then settle in somewhere warm while everyone on screen makes the questionable decision to wander around a foggy forest after dark.

Sparkenhoe Red Leicester and Trick ’r Treat

There are some foods that simply understand Halloween, and Sparkenhoe Red Leicester is one of them.

Its deep orange paste earns it an immediate place on the board, but there is plenty going on beyond the colour. This traditional Red Leicester is savoury and full-flavoured, with a firm texture and those lovely notes of caramel and toasted nuts that make it particularly satisfying as the weather cools.

For the film, we are going all-in on Halloween night with Trick ’r Treat. Pumpkins, costumes, sweets, mischief and several reminders that perhaps the old Halloween rules are there for a reason.

It is playful, properly spooky and gloriously seasonal, rather like having somebody turn every Halloween decoration up to maximum. Sparkenhoe’s flashes of orange look completely at home alongside it.

If your preferred Halloween viewing involves considerably fewer murders, this is also the cheese we would choose for Hocus Pocus. The orange still works, the Halloween atmosphere remains intact, and you are rather less likely to lose your appetite.

Dazel Ash and The Witch

Dazel Ash provides the drama on our Halloween board.

This soft goat’s milk cheese is covered in an edible ash rind, giving it a charcoal-dark exterior around a beautifully pale, creamy centre. The flavour itself is fresh and gently tangy rather than smoky, with the rind adding an earthy note as the cheese matures.

For Dazel Ash, there could really only be The Witch.

Dark woodland, New England folklore, an increasingly unsettling atmosphere and, of course, one of cinema’s more notorious goats. Visually, the pairing is almost too perfect.

This is the choice for people who want their Halloween film properly unnerving. Fortunately, you will have cheese.

Watching Dracula? Bring the garlic

Whatever version of Dracula you choose, there is one essential addition to the cheeseboard.

Our Black Garlic Pickle is dark, glossy and wonderfully sticky, with deep roasted flavours, savoury richness and a gentle sweetness that works beautifully with all three cheeses.

More importantly, it contains garlic.

Whether black garlic retains the full vampire-repelling powers traditionally attributed to the fresh stuff has, admittedly, not been tested by the Paxton & Whitfield team. We would still suggest keeping the jar nearby. There seems little point taking unnecessary risks.

Prefer your Halloween a little less terrifying?

Not everybody wants to spend Halloween watching something through their fingers.

For a gentler evening, The Addams Family brings plenty of gothic atmosphere without requiring much emotional recovery afterwards, while Hocus Pocus remains difficult to beat for pure October comfort.

If you like a traditional ghost story rather than outright horror, The Others provides candlelight, creaking rooms and plenty of unease. Or, if Rollright has left you craving even more woodland menace, The Blair Witch Project will make you extremely grateful to be eating it safely on the sofa rather than attempting to navigate a forest.

There is no correct level of Halloween scariness. There should, however, always be cheese.

Build your Halloween cheeseboard

Our Halloween Cheeseboard brings together Rollright, Sparkenhoe Red Leicester and Dazel Ash with Charcoal Crackers and Black Garlic Pickle for a selection full of autumn colour, woodland character and just the right amount of darkness.

It is a treat for a Halloween party, a very good reward after taking children trick-or-treating, or simply an excellent excuse to stay in with a scary film.

Choose your movie, turn the lights down and bring the cheese to room temperature.

The vampires can take their chances.