Lowfields

Roger’s family have been dairy farming for over five generations. In 1984 three sisters inherited a small parcel of land in the north-west of England, sandwiched between the Yorkshire Dales, Lancaster and the Lake District. Being a small parcel of land they decided to farm a small flock of native sheep on it (the Lleyn breed).

Roger grew up on the farm with his Mum (one of the three sisters), but with no work available on the farm he went to Newcastle University to study brewing.  Always wanting to return home he did so in 2020 by persuading his Mum it would be better for the environment and pasture if he helped her to graze cows and sheep together on the land, and rotate the grazing.  With a lack of finance and infrastructure, Roger purchased just two old-fashioned native Dairy Shorthorn cows, and started milking them. But what would he do with the milk? Well, Roger wanted to produce a traditional cheese to the area … and Creamy Lancashire seemed the obvious fit.

The cheese is made over several days, as it used to be when farms were too small to have enough milk to make a whole cheese in one day. The farms would start the cheese-making process with the milk they had available, then complete the cheese-making when they had enough curd to combine to make one big cheese. This use of several days’ curd gives traditional creamy Lancashire its unique soft but fluffy texture and rich lactic flavour. This seemed a natural fit for Roger’s family’s smallholding.

Roger now milks 12 cows from March to December when they are out in the pasture grazing on grass. They have traditional permanent pastures, not ploughed for generations, rich with recently sewn in herbs such as plantain, chicory and clovers to improve the cows’ milk for cheese making.

The cows graze rotationally and are milked out in the pasture using a mobile milking parlour – something you might see in the French Alps, but rarely in the UK.

This product will have two weeks’ shelf life from the date of delivery.  Conveniently, at checkout you can choose a delivery date even well in the future if you would like your cheese delivering for a specific event.

Ingredients: Milk, salt, cheese cultures and rennet.