A moist, tangy cheese.

The history of cheese making in the Dales goes back to Roman times. The historic cheese making Dales were those of Tees, the Swale and Wensleydale. However, during the period of monastic influence up to 1537 most of the cheese from this area was made with ewe's milk, and would have borne little resemblance to today's cheese. Between the dissolution of monasteries and the 17th century a change towards cow's milk cheeses from Shorthorn herds took place, and the cheese became more like the familiar Dales cheeses of today.

Cotherstone itself is probably a descendant of Wensleydale, and may have been made in the 17th century. In the 19th century, because this sort of cheese could be kept for a whole year, it proved popular with provision merchants, who could book extra cheeses made in the productive seasons of Spring and Autumn. The fat moist properties of the cheese encouraged the growth of green moulds. The resulting blue cheese was highly prized in the last century. In recent years however, Cotherstone has been kept free of mould.

The village name of Cotherstone was only given to the cheese early this century, and was mentioned in the pre-1907 dairy entry of the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, as well as the Teesdale Mercury. The most famous maker of Cotherstone was Mrs Birkett, cheese maker at West Park until 1940, who was very keen to make the distinction between Cotherstone and Wensleydale cheeses. Mrs Birkett was probably responsible for the rise in popularity of Cotherstone as a cheese in its own right.

Our Cotherstone comes from the farm of Joan Cross at Barnard Castle, where she has been making the cheese for over 25 years. The traditional season is from May to the first frost of Winter, but at Barnard Castle it is made pretty much all year round. Maturation takes one to three months.

Cotherstone comes in 20cm diameter, 10cm tall, 2kg rounds with a cream coloured natural rind. Made with vegetarian rennet, it is completely hand made and has a fat content of 45%. The pâte is semi-hard and moist, and is yellower in colour than the closely related Swaledale. Although compatible with many types of wine, Cotherstone has proved popular over the years with drinkers of heavy stout.