The Courtyard Dairy

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The Courtyard Dairy Specialist Farmhouse Cheeses - Like The Courtyard Dairy to find out more about farmhouse cheese-making and how The Courtyard Dairy age cheese
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Believe it or not, a cow can produce over 100 litres of saliva a day! All that chewing and ruminating helps keep their d...
23/10/2026

Believe it or not, a cow can produce over 100 litres of saliva a day! All that chewing and ruminating helps keep their digestive system working smoothly. 🐄

One of the best cheesemongers out their apparently.Yet here I am cutting cheese for a tasting with the back of a wooden ...
21/10/2026

One of the best cheesemongers out their apparently.
Yet here I am cutting cheese for a tasting with the back of a wooden spoon and a disposable bowl.
🤣🤣🤣.

(We got locked out of the kitchen!)

19/10/2026

Great staff training night with Mario making Mozarella and Ricotta.

Please note that we are closed next Monday due to a planned power cut. You best stock up on cheese before then to get yo...
19/10/2026

Please note that we are closed next Monday due to a planned power cut.
You best stock up on cheese before then to get you through.
Back open Tuesday, 27th October.

Making milk for raw-milk cheese: a case study: DoddingtonThe Maxwell family farm around 300 cows.  Most of their milk is...
17/10/2026

Making milk for raw-milk cheese: a case study: Doddington

The Maxwell family farm around 300 cows.  Most of their milk is sold for onward pasteurisation by a milk processor. But a small amount is made into raw-milk cheese.  For the raw-milk cheese they only use milk from the first 50-60 cows into the parlour (when it’s at its cleanest).
They’ve selected these 50-60 cows as the fittest, healthiest cows, in the prime of their life, not high yielding, not young, not old, with good pedigree and fed on dry forage.  They then spend extra time cleaning these cows’ udders and pre-stripping them (partially milking the cow a bit to remove any ‘old’ milk) before milking.  This adds about 30-50 seconds to the time it takes per cow to milk, but these processes ensure the milk’s utmost quality.
This milk is then used for Doddington cheese-making fresh and warm, straight after milking, with no storage or chilling.

(For the rest of their milk, sold for pasteurisation, they don’t go through this rigorous process as it would be costly to take an extra few hours each milking – the liquid milk market prioritises price.)

Most of the raw milk cheesemakers also have a 'closed herd', which means other animals aren’t brought into the farm, potentially bringing disease and unknown characteristics.  (Clearly, they do have to buy the odd bull every now and then to ensure genetic diversity.)

Raw Milk Cheese Day: a slice of social history. When Graham Kirkham’s Mum made Lancashire cheese, there were 30 farmers ...
17/10/2026

Raw Milk Cheese Day: a slice of social history. 
When Graham Kirkham’s Mum made Lancashire cheese, there were 30 farmers making Lancashire cheese around Preston with raw milk.  

When his Grandma made Lancashire cheese, there were 300.  

Now there’s just him.  

I think that’s worth supporting, don’t you?

17/10/2026

100% Raw Milk Cheeses in the counter today.

A good cheese changes with the seasons! As the grass and pastures that cows, sheep and goats graze on change throughout ...
16/10/2026

A good cheese changes with the seasons! As the grass and pastures that cows, sheep and goats graze on change throughout the year, so does the flavour of their milk — giving each cheese its own subtle seasonal character. 🧀

🇫🇷🧀 An evening of French classics at The Courtyard Dairy! 🍷Join us for our in-house cheese tasting as we explore some of...
15/10/2026

🇫🇷🧀 An evening of French classics at The Courtyard Dairy! 🍷

Join us for our in-house cheese tasting as we explore some of France’s much-loved cheeses. Discover the stories behind the cheeses, enjoy delicious flavours and find a new favourite along the way.

For the perfect finishing touch, choose our w**e pairings to accompany your tasting. 🥂

📅 14th November
🕖 7pm
📍 The Courtyard Dairy
🧀 £22 per person
🍷 £36 per person including w**e pairings

Gather your fellow cheese lovers and make an evening of it!
Limited spaces left!!

👉 Get in touch to find out more and book your place.

Let's talk about raw milk cheese.....I am not a big fan of appreciation days (apart from Yorkshire Day obviously ;-) !)....
14/10/2026

Let's talk about raw milk cheese.....

I am not a big fan of appreciation days (apart from Yorkshire Day obviously ;-) !).  

But Saturday is a Raw Milk Cheese Day.
So The Courtyard Dairy and seven other cheese shops in the UK have collaborated together to try raise the profile of raw-milk cheese and guide you to those who still believe it is worth championing.

Why?
Raw-milk cheese doesn’t necessarily mean better cheese.  In fact for large scale production, more consistent cheese-making and anonymous milk supplies, pasteurising is essential.

But there is a reason that all Comté, Parmesan, Gruyère and Roquefort, even in supermarkets, is made only from raw-milk.  It’s because the French, Italians and Swiss insist upon it.  

When milk is pasteurised the structure of protein changes and the microbial diversity is diminished.  But a raw-milk cheese retains the essential character of the place it is made.  It doesn’t mean stronger, or better, just more unique and a special taste of the place that cheese comes from.

And it's a real challenge to do, that's why we're shouting about it this Saturday.

Address

Crow Nest Road
Settle
LA28AS

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5:30pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

01729 823 291

Website

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