Harbourne Blue

The Devon, Beenleigh and Harbourne Blue are made by Ticklemore Cheese Ltd in Devon.

The first cheese to be made was the Beenleigh Blue. It was created by Robin Congdon, who, in the 70’s, was one of the first pioneers in reviving the tradition of sheep milking in the UK. His first cheese creations were small soft cheeses, made from the milk of just 30 sheep in Exeter. After a few years, he partnered up with Maurice Ash and moved to a larger farm within the Dartington Hall Estate, alongside the river Dart, where the Beenleigh Blue was soon born. The Beenleigh is named after the hamlet in which is was first made.

The Harbourne, a goat’s milk version of the same cheese, was created not long afterwards and was named after the tributary of the Dart, which flows through Beenleigh. Years later, the Devon Blue was created using cow’s milk from a neighbouring farm.

Robin’s original recipe blue cheese recipe was based on one for Roquefort, using a scraping of mould from a visit to one of the Roquefort caves in France. He even built a cellar back in England, to mimic the conditions under which Roquefort is aged.

Robin built a larger cheese dairy when speciality cheeses rose in popularity in the 80’s and 90’s and also ran his own cheese shop in Totnes for 20 years. In 2002, Ben Harris, whose background was on a dairy farm and then in restaurants, joined the dairy, and in 2023, he became Director of Ticklemore Cheese, now running the business with his wife, Laura.

The milk for Harbourne Blue comes from the Lewis family who have a varied groups of Toggenburg, Saanen and Alpine goats that have been bred with the original milk providing Anglo Nubians’. They are fed homemade, rolled barley, silage and even cake, and enjoy lots of playtime and affection.

Ticklemore Cheese Company have excellent environmental policies and a zero to landfill policy on all waste. They also send the whey from cheesemaking to an anaerobic digester to produce electricity and to a local pig farm for food.