Listed below are all the cheeses normally available from The Courtyard Dairy cheese shop.  Other ‘guest’ cheeses are occasionally available that may not appear online – please phone Andy on 01729 892 902 to find out what’s tasting great right now!

Well, if you thought it was salt, you’d be wrong! We do know what causes the crystalline white deposits found within hard cheeses. It isn’t common salt, and in fact you could say that what the crystals are really made of is not too exciting, but it is of interest to those who have an enquiring mind! The majority of what we find nowadays as crystals in hard cheese is amino acids (most commonly Tyrosine and sometimes Leucine) that have come about from protein breakdown. Protein is naturally found in the milk (and, therefore, the cheese). This protein is slowly broken down as the cheese ages, and in some cases it breaks down to form the aforementioned specific amino acids, Tyrosine and Leucine. Believe it or not, these amino acids move about slowly within the paste of cheese and when enough of them bump into each other, which happens occasionally, and only occasionally, they will join together. This causes a tiny crystal to start (the ‘nucleation site’) and slowly more amino acids join in, so the crystal grows. Although not contributing to flavour these amino acids do contribute to texture, giving hard cheeses a pleasant ‘crunch’. The reason they are…

The farm began 2017 under a substantial cloud of bovine Tuberculosis (bTB). Unfortunately we had a quite terrible test result just before Christmas 2016 and were counting down the days until the next test, which was due in March. The January to March period is always a quite depressing time of year in these parts anyway – everyone withdraws into their own worlds and you don’t see so much of the neighbours as farm work moves indoors and everyone gets on with their own bleak winter grind. Having said that, I really enjoy the farm in winter, intoning Winterreise to myself and reading Hamsun and Laxness in the long, cold evenings. What such grief wallowing says about me I don’t quite know. So, it was a slow wait for the next test, but well worth the wait because we were completely taken by surprise when we received a CLEAR test! No animals condemned to slaughter! It was a huge relief for us, following the loss of 17 animals – mostly in-calf heifers – since May 2016. Then began the extremely slow wait for the next test in May, which would be our ‘clearing’ test. Pass that one and we’d be…

Take a glance at many supermarket cheese or milk labels and you’ll often see a picture of a happy cow in a field. The reality is very different, however, because as many as one-in-five cows never actually get to go outdoors at all, and many more are kept indoors for long periods, being fed on cereals, maize, soya and supplements. So when you read on a label that the animals are ‘grass-fed’, ‘pasture promise’ or ‘free range’, do you really know what it means? And does it really make a difference to the milk or cheese inside? Read on to find out more… Aren’t all cows fed on pasture? No, as mentioned, 20% never even make it to pasture. And of the other 80%, the majority will be fed on pasture for some time, but the amount of time pales into insignificance compared with the time they spend indoors. The reason for so many cows being kept indoors is simple – it is more economic, and it’s easier when carrying out intensive farming. The producer can buy cheap bulk feed and feed their animals on silage with maize, soya, cereals and other bought-in supplements. They can control the temperature so…

Here are Kathy’s and Andy’s favourite cheese gifts and gift selections for this coming Father’s Day.

No doubt a few of you will know already about The Courtyard Dairy’s purchase of the former Yorkshire Dales Falconry Centre on the A65 near Settle.  The plan is for Kathy, Andy and their two lovely children to live there, consolidate the business and eventually move all the operation there. Four years ago, after time spent working with cheese in France, Bath and London, Kathy and Andy moved to Settle to open their own small cheese shop: The Courtyard Dairy.  They wanted to run a shop that focused exclusively on quality and traditional farm-made cheese.  Since then, Andy and Kathy have been overwhelmed by the support they have received from the people of Settle and throughout Craven. This amazing support has enabled them to make a quantum leap in order to grow their business and create a more secure future within Settle.  Andy and Kathy love Settle and its residents, and they want to continue to live and bring up their young family in the area. The larger space available to them at the former Yorkshire Dales Falconry Centre will allow several improvements to their business: increase the space for storing and further maturing cheese to make it truly special,…

Owners of The Courtyard Dairy in Settle have developed a brand-new ‘air freshener’ that gives off a cheesy whiff!  The device is incorporated into a simple 13A plug that can be left plugged into any standard socket.  It then periodically releases into the room a strong smell of cheese, perfect for disguising unwanted nasty odours such as ground coffee, freshly-baked bread, perfume and flowers, leaving the room with a delightful cheesey smell instead. “We kept getting so many lovely comments about the amazing smell in the shop from all the wonderful cheeses on display”, said business-owner Andy Swinscoe, “so we decided to come up with a plug-in device so that customer could enjoy the fantastic aroma of cheese in their own home, too!” The ‘air freshener’ will be launched on sale today.  It comes with three settings to allow the user to pervade the air with the cheese smell they like best: ‘Stinky & Pongy’, ‘A Brie Whiff’ or ‘Mild Cheddar’.  It retails at £3.35, with refills of cheese odour available from £2.00, and will be available exclusively from The Courtyard Dairy in Settle or online at thecourtyarddairy.co.uk.