Blog · Heritage Yorkshire Dales
← Back to Blog
Wensleydale cheese has been made in the Yorkshire Dales for at least nine hundred years. The original recipe was brought to the valley by Cistercian monks who arrived from Normandy with William the Conqueror's followers in the 11th century and established Jervaulx Abbey near the southern end of the valley. The monks made their cheese from ewe's milk; the recipe later shifted to cow's milk as the valley's dairy farming developed.
The cheese survived the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, was adopted by the farmhouses of the valley, and continued to be made in Wensleydale through the centuries of the industrial revolution and the agricultural changes of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was nearly lost in the 1990s.
The Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes, at the head of the valley, is the centre of Wensleydale cheese production. It was founded in 1897, when the area's railway connection made it practical to centralise cheese production that had previously been dispersed across individual farms.
In 1992, Dairy Crest, the creamery's then-owner, announced its closure. The prospect of losing Wensleydale cheese production from the valley prompted a community buyout — the employees of the creamery, led by Kit Calvert, raised the necessary funds and purchased the business, creating an independent cooperative that continues to operate today.
The creamery is now a significant visitor attraction as well as a working dairy. Tours of the production facility are available and the visitor centre sells the full range of Wensleydale products, from the classic white crumbly cheese to the cranberry and ginger variants.
The international fame of Wensleydale cheese — and the survival of the Hawes creamery — was significantly boosted in the 1990s by the animated films of Nick Park and Aardman Animations. In the Wallace and Gromit films, Wallace has a pronounced fondness for Wensleydale cheese: he eats it constantly, and in A Grand Day Out (1989) he and Gromit travel to the moon specifically because they believe it is made of cheese.
The resulting publicity transformed the Hawes creamery's fortunes. Sales of Wensleydale cheese increased dramatically. The creamery produced a Wallace and Gromit promotional version; visitors came specifically to buy cheese at the source.
Real Wensleydale is a fresh, moist, crumbly cheese with a mild, slightly honeyed flavour and a characteristic flakiness that distinguishes it from most other British cheeses. It is not aged for long (typically six weeks for the standard cheese), which gives it its freshness.
The flavour depends significantly on the milk used — the dairy cows of the valley, grazing on the traditional hay meadows for which Wensleydale is also known, produce milk with a character that reflects the pasture. The hay meadows of upper Wensleydale, managed in the traditional way with no artificial fertiliser, are some of the most botanically rich grasslands in England.
The Yorkshire Dales has several small independent cheese producers beyond the Wensleydale Creamery, and a growing number of artisan food producers more generally. If food heritage is a significant interest, a bespoke tour of the valley can incorporate the creamery, the hay meadows and the broader agricultural heritage of the Dale.
The Brontë Country Day Trip passes through the Yorkshire Dales landscape that produces Wensleydale. Contact us to discuss a bespoke Dales food heritage tour.