For local cheesemaker Gail Hobbs-Page, the hills will be alive with the sound of cowbells and milking pails as she embarks on a dream excursion to the Italian Alps this month. She’ll be communing with Italian cheese makers who are making their product the old-fashioned way: by hand.

Hobbs-Page, who owns Caromont Farm south of Charlottesville, has been making goat cheese with modern equipment since 2007. Now, she’s cooking up a plan to make hand-crafted, small-batch cheeses four times a year (a new cheese for each season).  She hopes to start selling her Cheese by Hand on Caromont Farm’s website next month, available to ship anywhere in the U.S.