Local Luxury – Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Blue
In celebration of our ‘Luxury Collection’ of holiday cottages we are taking a close look at some of Britain’s finest local produce. We are living through a renaissance in British cuisine, and at the heart of this revolution has been a determination by local producers to source the best that Britain has to offer. The focus is on producing quality through a dedication born out of an essential love of the product. Whether this is symptomatic of a wider reaction against the generic sameness imprinted by supermarkets upon our weekly shop or whether simply our palates are become more sophisticated, the result is that we have a burgeoning local produce scene offering local luxury across the length and breadth of our beautiful land.
This week we are going to focus on cheese and in particular 2012 champion ‘Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Blue’. The progress of British food producers is in turn creating a parallel revisionism in the way our food is viewed abroad, this is particularly so with cheese. The French, who have forever been at the forefront of quality fromage, are quite rightly looking over their shoulder recognising that British cheese is now a force to be reckoned with. Indeed, as a culture we are becoming a nation of cheese lovers with cheese inspired restaurants/bars now well established in London with places like ‘Cheese at Leadenhall’ and ‘L’Art du Fromage’ at the heart of this high end revolution.
Wensleydale is of course synonymous with cheese with a proud heritage dating back to the 12th Century. Last year the creamery at Hawes won the prestigious ‘supreme champion’ 2012 with their celebrated ‘Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Blue’ a delicate but flavoursome creamy blue cheese with an appeal for both the connoisseur and uninitiated alike. Cheese in the region is now protected by provenance in the same way as Stilton and champagne in France. The cheese makers at Real Yorkshire Wensleydale epitomise this essence of luxury in great local produce. Hand crafted with a mix of tradition and passion, the result is a quality cheese that has been crowned the best in Britain. Holidaymakers to the region can learn more and visit the creamery where the visitor centre has a museum and even a viewing room so you can see the experts at work.
The expansive Dales surrounding Hawes are a stunning patchwork of rolling green hills, a lush home for Yorkshire cows that produce the areas award winning cheese. Such a beautiful backdrop, unsurprisingly, is a magnet for walkers, and with such a central location, it’s very convenient for visitors to explore neighbouring Wharefedale and Swaledale. Hawes is a delightful Yorkshire market town which becomes a vibrant hub every Tuesday with indoor and outdoor markets offering the best produce the area has to offer. Why not indulge yourself on your next visit to the Yorkshire Dales and be sure to pick of some delicious Real Yorkshire Wensleydale blue!
Fancy a little luxury? Take a look at our Luxury Collection of holiday cottages today.
