Sliced, melted, grated, crumbled... add cheese to pretty much anything and it'll make it taste better.

As a nation, we love the stuff, but most of us are creatures of habit when it comes to the types of cheese we buy, sticking to what we know and steadfastly ignoring the other 1400 varieties made in the UK. But think of all the brie-lliant cheeses you're missing out on (sorry, we couldn't resist!)...

Here are our top five British favourites for you to try next time you fancy a cheesy treat:

St Giles

With its edible orange rind and creamy consistency, this cheese looks like Port Salut, but has a much more powerful taste with plenty of tang and a more mature flavour. Perfect for spreading on oat cakes.

Sussex Slipcote
If you like Boursin, you'll love this English equivalent. It's made with creamy sheep's milk and is packed with basil. Eat it spread over fresh white farmhouse bread or on crackers.

Sussex Charmer
If you're looking to try a new hard cheese, this really is a charmer. It tastes like a cross between cheddar and parmesan and would be delicious grated over a big bowl of pasta.

Cropwell Bishop Blue Stilton
Blue cheese is an acquired taste, but we love it! To make it, huge cylinders of stilton are pierced hundreds of times over its 12-week maturing period, so that oxygen can react with the cheese and encourage the blue mould to grow. Next time you buy a wedge, see if it has a piercing mark. Its strong flavour makes stilton great for crumbling over salads, adding to soups or making a winter rarebit.

Cathedral City Lighter
If you thought lower-fat cheeses weren't worth trying, think again – this one is pretty good! It has the same mellow cheddar taste as the full-fat alternative, but contains 40% more calcium and more protein. Genius.

Find out more about British cheeses and cheese festivals happening near you at britishcheese.com.