About Us

Dewlay Cheesemakers was founded in 1957 by George Kenyon and over the following 50 years earned a reputation for producing the very best Lancashire cheese. George passed the reins over to his son Neil who moved the dairy to it's current location on the outskirts or the market town of Garstang Lancashire.  Today the dairy is owned and managed by 3rd Generation cheesemakers Nick & Richard Kenyon, who continue to follow the Lancashire cheesemaking methods used by their grandfather and father before them.

All of our Lancashire cheese is produced using fresh pasteurised milk sourced directly from dairy farms

located within a 6 mile radius of the dairy and made using our own unique starter culture which we developed on site more than 40 years ago. Staying true to our Cheesemaking roots, we create a great range of the finest Lancashire cheese including our award winning Creamy, Crumbly and Tasty Lancashire and our wonderfully creamy Garstang Blue.

As well as being made with pasteurised milk, our Lancashire cheeses are also suitable for vegetarians.

Making Lancashire cheese to the high standards we’ve set ourselves

takes a lot of time and energy and our cheesemakers have dedicated many years of their lives in producing high quality cheeses here at the dairy. Cheesemaking has traditionally relied on conventional sources of energy in terms of how dairies and packing facilities have been powered but conscious of the need to become more environmentally aware and rely less on traditional power sources while embracing new ones, Dewlay commissioned the construction of a 2MW wind turbine on site in late 2010. Following months of planning and construction, the project – a joint venture between Wind Direct and Dewlay - was completed in September 2010. Such was the success of the project that Dewlay was the first dairy in the U.K. to be able to say that it was powered by renewable wind energy on this scale.

P.D.O. - What does it mean, and why is it important?

P.D.O. stands for Protected Designation of Origin and the standard was created in order to help protect regional foods, their place of origin and time honoured methods of production from companies outside the area making products with the same name, but not the same traditions and selling them under the traditional name.  Sounds confusing? Absolutely! Our customers are always surprised when we tell them than a lot of cheese called "Lancashire" on the label is actually made by dairies not even based in the county!  
 
Cheeses most famous for their P.D.O. include Roquefort and Parmigiano Reggiano but there is also a small and very exclusive range of British foods that hold this respected P.D.O. accreditation including Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire cheese which is produced here in our dairy.  P.D.O. rules say that only cheese made from full fat milk from a specific part of Lancashire and made to very stringent traditional techniques can be named “Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire cheese”  meaning you, the consumer only gets Lancashire cheese the way it is meant to be, the way it has been for centuries! A uniquely mild, creamy cheese made to a two day curd recipe, that is ideal for cooking with, and absolutely perfect on any after dinner cheeseboard! For more detailed information, please see www.defra.gov.uk  or www.euprotectedfoodnames.org.uk
 
With Dewlay you can be assured that you always get "Real Lancashire cheese that's really made in Lancashire", made today with the same techniques handed down over generations of Lancashire cheesemakers.