Colston Bassett Dairy, a farming cooperative established in 1913, has now been making outstanding, award winning cheese for over 100 years.
Originally, sixteen farms were brought together by Dr William Windley to provide milk for the dairy he founded in 1912. Today, these sixteen farms have consolidated into four but they still cover the same pastures and all sit within one and a half miles of the dairy in the Vale of Belvoir. All four farms are shareholders.
The first cheese to be produced by Colston Bassett Dairy was a hard pressed Cheddar style cheese, due to restrictions set during the First World War, but in 1920, the dairy began making Stilton. This halted during WWII but since then, Stilton has been made consistently. By the 1950’s, it was being made year round.
There have only been four head cheesemakers at Colston Bassett since its inception, and traditional practices have been consistently followed from day one, including the hand landing of the cheese curds. The long followed recipes, which are still used today, have been handed down through generations.
Stilton was first recognised as a cheese at the very beginning of the eighteenth century and was named after the village of Stilton, where it was first made and sold. The cheese now has protected status (PDO) and can only be made in Stilton village’s three adjacent counties, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
The cows are outdoor reared, home fed and the cheese is made and matured within less than 2 miles of the grazing fields, so there are very few food miles involved in production.