Cheddar Complex lasted until the 19th century. Cheddar Complex The Cheddar Complex is a 441.3 hectare (1090.5 acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest near Cheddar around the Cheddar Gorge and north east to Charterhouse in the Mendip Hills, Somerset, notified in 1952. The very large area includes 4 SSSIs formerly known as: Cheddar Gorge SSSI; August Hole/Longwood Swallet SSSI; GB Cavern Charterhouse SSSI; and Charterhouse on-Mendip SSSI. It is part owned by the National Trust, commercial landowners including the Marquess of Bath's Longleat Estate; and part managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust. The Cheddar Complex supports a wide range of semi-natural
Cheddar cheese cut into cubes to drain the whey, and then stacked and turned. Strong, extra-mature Cheddar, sometimes called vintage, needs to be matured for 15 months or more. The cheese is kept at a constant temperature, often requiring special facilities. As with other hard cheese varieties produced worldwide, caves provide an ideal environment for maturing cheese; still, today, some Cheddar cheese is matured in the caves at Wookey Hole and Cheddar Gorge. Additionally, some versions of Cheddar cheese are smoked. The ideal quality of the original Somerset Cheddar was described by Joseph Harding in 1864 as "close and firm in texture,