The farm shop at Salt Spring Island Cheese is well stocked for visitors who want to take a piece of the experience home with them. Whole and half wheels of cheese travel well if kept cool, and the team can advise on packaging for ferry journeys.
Hop On Tip: This is a popular stop for lingering. If you want more time at the farm — a full lunch at the café, a long walk around the goat pastures — stay an extra hour and catch the next departure. The Hop On schedule allows you to spend an hour or two at each stop.
Salt Spring Island Cheese Company is located at 285 Reynolds Road, about 15 minutes south of Ganges by car. Without a vehicle, the easiest way to get there is on the Salt Spring Hop On Hop Off Artisan Trail bus, which stops here on every run from late April through late September.
The bus departs from the Salt Spring Visitor Information Centre in Ganges at 10am, 11am, and 12pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Salt Spring Island Cheese is the first artisan stop on the trail.
Salt Spring Island Cheese Company is one of them. Tucked into a forested hillside just south of Ganges, it's a working goat farm, a cheese-making facility, a tasting room, a café, and a destination all rolled into one gloriously pastoral package.
For food lovers visiting Salt Spring Island, it's not optional. It's the stop.
The Salt Spring Hop On Hop Off Artisan Trail makes this its first and most celebrated stop, and for good reason. Guests who linger here — and many do, hopping off and catching a later bus — tend to leave with a wedge of goat cheese, a jar of house-made chutney, and the particular glow of someone who has just eaten extremely well.
Salt Spring Island Cheese Company was founded by David Wood, who established the farm with a small herd of goats and a commitment to making handcrafted, European-style cheeses using traditional methods. What started as a small operation has grown into one of the most recognised artisan cheese producers in British Columbia, with awards and a reputation that reaches well beyond the Gulf Islands.
The philosophy has stayed consistent: slow, small-batch production using milk from the farm's own herd, minimal additives, and techniques that honour the European cheesemaking traditions Wood fell in love with. The result is cheese that tastes genuinely of place — of the specific grasses, air, and water of this particular corner of Salt Spring Island.
The tasting room at Salt Spring Island Cheese is one of the most pleasurable stops on any food tour of the Gulf Islands. A long wooden counter is typically laid with samples — small portions of the farm's current selection, served with house-made accompaniments.
Salt Spring Island Cheese produces a rotating range of fresh, aged, and flavoured goat cheeses. Some reliable favourites include:
Each cheese is presented with suggested pairings from the farm's own pantry: house-made jams, fruit chutneys, pickled vegetables, and artisan crackers. It's a proper tasting, not a nibble.
Part of what makes the tasting room experience so complete is the range of house-made condiments available alongside the cheese. These are made on-site and change with the seasons — you might find a fig and rosemary jam one week and a roasted tomato chutney the next. Many visitors end up buying several jars to take home.
Cheese aside, Salt Spring Island Cheese Company is a genuinely charming working farm, and the experience of visiting extends well beyond the tasting counter.
Guests are welcome to take a self-guided walk through the farm and visit the goat barn. The herd here is a mix of breeds, and spending a few minutes with them is an unexpectedly joyful experience — particularly if baby goats happen to be in residence, which they often are in spring and early summer. There's something about a kid bouncing off a fence post that resets the nervous system entirely.
Through viewing windows adjacent to the tasting room, guests can observe the cheese-making and packaging process as it happens. Staff are usually happy to explain what's taking place — which vat is in which stage of production, why certain cheeses are turned at specific intervals, what determines the texture of a finished wheel. For anyone even passingly interested in food and fermentation, it's fascinating.
The Courtyard Café
The farm's courtyard café is where many visitors settle in for longer than they planned. The menu is built around the farm's own products, naturally — goat cheese in almost every form imaginable — alongside fresh seasonal ingredients sourced from neighbouring farms and producers.
It's casual and unhurried — exactly the right pace for a Salt Spring afternoon.
Goat Milk Gelato
This is the experience that guests tend to remember most. The farm produces gelato from the same goat milk used in their cheeses, and the result is something genuinely special. Lighter than cow's milk ice cream, with a clean, slightly tangy sweetness, it comes in flavours that change with what's in season. It's the perfect accompaniment to a warm summer afternoon...
It's one of the most highly regarded artisan cheese experiences in British Columbia. Between the tasting room, the goat barn, the gelato, and the café, it easily fills two hours — and most visitors leave wishing they'd stayed longer.
Yes — the Salt Spring Hop On Hop Off Artisan Trail bus stops here on every run, making it the most convenient way to visit without driving.
The farm is open to walk-in visitors, but if you're coming on the Hop On tour, booking your bus ticket in advance is recommended, especially on summer weekends when spots fill quickly.
The farm is renowned for its handcrafted goat cheeses made with milk from its own herd, its house-made accompaniments, and its goat milk gelato. The cheesecake is also a cult favourite among regular visitors.
