Dovedale

Description

Dovedale Blue is unique to the Derbyshire Dales and can only be produced within 50 miles of the River Dove in the Peak District. Made with local Derbyshire milk on the historic Pikehall Farm, the cheese is dipped in brine during maturation rather than being dry salted. This process is unique in the UK and along with a manufacturing process that involves different starter cultures, fat, acidity and moisture levels compared with other blue cheeses, produces a cheese with a wonderfully creamy texture, and a look and tastes often associated with continental blue cheese.

Dovedale Blue is a truly versatile cheese bursting with flavour goes well with cured British meats, an artisan sourdough loaf, with biscuits or in a recipe requiring the best blue cheese.

The original Hartington creamery was established by the Duke of Devonshire in the 1870’s, producing a white crumbly Derbyshire cheese, until it was partially destroyed by fire in 1894. After standing empty for six years, in 1900 it was taken over and recommissioned by Thomas Nuttall, a prize-winning Stilton Cheese maker from Melton Mowbray, who began producing Blue Stilton at Hartington on 1st April 1900. The business was later taken over and expanded by his son, John M. Nuttall, and he expanded the business under the name JM Nuttalls. They held a Royal warrant to supply Stilton to King George V.

In 1929, the second fire swept through Dove Dairy, causing great destruction and requiring the Creamery to be rebuilt entirely. In the late 1930s, the Hartington Creamery was acquired by the Government-owned and created Milk Marketing Board and became part of what was later known as Dairy Crest. As the twentieth century progressed it became far more profitable for farmers to supply milk to the fast-growing urban townships. One by one the cheese factories in Derbyshire closed, until only the Hartington factory was left. They kept the Derbyshire cheese-making tradition alive until 2009 when the factory closed.

This tradition was reinstated on 17th October 2012 when the new Hartington Creamery Limited made its first cheese, at the historic Pikehall Farm, in the heart of the Peak District Park. The Farm dates back beyond the 1600s when it was a toll point called the Pikeham Inne. It became a farm in 1675 and the original remains of the Roman road go straight through the farmyard up into the fields. Their 200 dairy cows use this Roman-built track as their daily milking parlour highway.  Pikehall has a neolithic burial ground and monument dating settlement at the hamlet to 2000 years before the Roman occupation.

The first products produced at the creamery were Peakland Blue and Peakland White, both unique to Hartington Creamery. These were supplemented in 2014 with the return of Stilton manufacture to Hartington and Derbyshire after a 5-year break. In 2018, Dovedale Blue was added to their range and PDO status which required the milk to be sourced from within 50 miles of Dovedale, was achieved.

Vegetarian. Pasteurised cows milk.