Colston Bassett Dairy

Image: © Kate Jewell Taken: 30 Apr 2010

Makers of Blue Stilton, White Stilton and Shropshire Blue cheeses, this small dairy was founded as a co-operative in 1913 by local farmers and still operates as such today. Although with only four farms currently supplying milk to the dairy these are a consolidation of the original 18 and the pastures used are more or less the same ones as at the founding of the co-operative. First recognised as a specific type of cheese at the beginning of the eighteenth century it is believed that Stilton was originally made in a farmhouse near Melton Mowbray. According to legend Cooper Thornhill, the owner of the Bell Inn on the Great North Road, in the village of Stilton, discovered the distinctive blue cheese while visiting the farm. He was so impressed with the cheese that he made a business arrangement with the farmer that granted the Bell Inn exclusive rights to blue Stilton, as the cheese was soon to be known. As the main route from London to Northern England passed through the village of Stilton Thornhill was able to promote the sale of this cheese and the fame of Stilton rapidly spread. This resulted in increased demand and therefore increased production radiating out from the original farm near Melton to other farms in the Vale of Belvoir. By the 19th century many of these home producers were becoming co-operatives which developed into the world famous Stilton creameries of today. Both the Blue and the White Stilton were granted the status of a Protected Designation of Origin by the European Commission in 1996 which means that only cheese produced according to a strict code in the three English counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire may be called "Stilton". This precludes Stilton itself from producing the cheese as it is in Cambridgeshire but there is a growing field of thought that a similar blue cheese could well have been made in the village in the 18th century. Look at the Colston Bassett website http://www.colstonbassettdairy.com/cheeses/ to find out how Stilton is made.

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