Team Is All Set to Put County Back on the Map for Its Famed Stilton News

Team is all set to put county back on the map for its famed Stilton News It’s been nearly three years since Hartington last produced its world- famous Stilton. But, this month, a team of cheese lovers are breaking the mould by crafting their own. Not too long ago, more than a quarter of the world's supply of Stilton was poured, matured, cut, aged, veined, sliced and packaged at Hartington Creamery. The team of five hoping to bring Stilton production back to Hartington are, from left, Garry Milner, Simon Davidson, Claire Milner, Ady Cartlidge and Alan Salt. Below are photos of the Old Cheese Shop in Hartington, the Pikehall site and Simon Davidson, who runs the Cheese Factor in Chesterfield. So famed was the village's flavoursome blue cheese, with its striking veins and strong smell, that it caught the attention – and the tastebuds – of King George V, along with foodies all over the world. Visit the picture-postcard village today and, sadly, and the only Stilton you will can your hands on has been shipped in from Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire. But that is all about the change. For, in April, production is due to start on the first batch of Stilton to be made in Derbyshire for two-and-a- half years. A five-strong team of Stilton-aficionados cannot wait to start bringing “doorwedge” chunks of the cheese back to Derbyshire. Alan Salt, Ady Cartlidge, Simon Davidson and Garry and Claire Millner are the brains behind the project – all of them Derbyshire folk and each with a burning passion to protect the tasty heritage of Hartington. "It's such a beautiful place with a fantastic history of cheese-making stretching back more than 100 years," says Alan. "Cheese, and Stilton in particular, is very much part of Hartington's legacy and we have such a proud tradition of cheese-making in Derbyshire that we all feel it needs to be protected. "The village just isn't the same without its Stilton and as long as we can keep producing the cheese here, we will be saving that heritage for future generations." Hartington Creamery closed in 2009 after its owner, Dairy Crest, was acquired by Leicestershire-based Long Clawson Dairy, which then decided to focus Stilton production at its Leicestershire sites. The group want to fill the hole left in Hartington by producing cheese at a renovated farm in Pikehall, just up the road from the village but still within the parish. By mid-summer, they hope to be producing two types of Stilton – Pikehall Blue, which will have distinctive blue veins, and Pikehall White, a crumbly, paler cheese. It will be an emotional day for all five of the Hartington Creamery team when their produce is ready for tasting. "We really can't wait for that day," says Alan. "A lot of hard work and dedication has gone into the project so far and it will be a sense of accomplishment when we get to that stage and a sense of relief, too. "I don't think the impact of losing the creamery has been fully felt in Hartington yet, even two-and-a-half years later. "Having it back, albeit in a completely different form, will be brilliant." Ask any of the team to name their favourite cheese and each says something different. But they are united by their love of Stilton and it is that shared passion that has seen the project hurtle forward. "When Ady and I first started talking about it, we approached Garry and Claire to see if they would be interested in selling the cheese for us once we eventually started producing it," says Alan. "But they didn't want to stop there – they wanted to come on board and get involved in the new creamery right from the start, which was absolutely fantastic. "That morning, we just had two cheesemakers but by the end of the day we had cheesemakers, business people and sales, complete with an outlet to sell the cheese from. "Then Simon came on board and we had two outlets, one in the country and one in a town." It was Alan and Ady's dedication to protecting the Stilton-making legacy of Hartington that convinced Garry and Claire to join them in the adventure. "It's our heritage," Garry says. "Stilton is as much a part of Hartington as anything else; everyone who lives here is proud of that history and we don't want to lose sight of that just because the old creamery closed. It's been two-and-a-half years since Stilton was made here but we still find people coming to Hartington and asking if they can buy some Hartington Stilton. "That's what we want to tap into, to bring that back for people." The original creamery in Hartington was first established by the then Duke of Devonshire in the 1870s to help some of his tenant farmers find more uses for their milk. That factory, in the heart of the village, produced a crumbly white Derbyshire cheese right up until it was partially destroyed by fire in 1894. It was in the year 1900 that Thomas Nuttall, already a renowned and prize-winning Stilton cheese-maker, took over the creamery and started producing the Blue Stilton that brought it such fame. Its popularity in those days was such that not only did Thomas's son, John, receive a Royal Warrant to supply the cheese to King George V but legislation was also brought in to protect the production of Stilton. Since the 1920s, it has been illegal to produce Stilton anywhere outside Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Even cheese produced in the Cambridgeshire town of Stilton, where it allegedly takes its name, cannot legally be called Stilton. Alan and Ady spent a collective 62 years working at the old creamery, so the pair know everything there is to know about making Stilton. But Blue Stilton, like Melton Mowbray pork pies and Champagne, is so protected that the pair won't be able to sell Blue Stilton until they've passed a series of stringent tests. While Alan and Ady are getting their accreditation, Garry, Claire and Simon will be working on the sales and marketing side of the business, making sure that Hartington Creamery can hit the ground running once the first drop of milk falls into the vat. Alan says: "We're a group working together to achieve this dream and it's all about what you bring to the party. "All five of us bring a different dish and what we will end up with will be a recipe for preserving Derbyshire's heritage. "And some delicious Stilton, too." For Garry and Claire, protecting the history and the character that makes Hartington such a special place has gone one step further. When Hartington Creamery ceased production, The Old Cheese Shop in the heart of the village went up for auction. Its future was uncertain; would it continue life as the home of a dazzling array of cheese or would it lose its identity and become just another building? As Hartington locals themselves, Garry and Claire stepped in. They went to the auction, outbid the competition and kept the bell above the shop's door tinkling with custom. "We only closed for half a day," Garry laughs as the door swings open again and a group of hungry visitors walk in. "We're thrilled that we have been able to hang on to that bit of the village's heritage and it's been fantastic since that day." Come September, The Old Cheese Shop will have another addition to its colourful counter in the form of Hartington Creamery's first batch of Stilton. And the shop is not the only place that will be selling the group's lovingly-crafted cheese; the fifth partner to come onboard the project is Simon Davidson, the man behind the popular Cheese Factor shop in Chesterfield's Market Hall. Simon says: "There is absolutely nowhere in Derbyshire producing Stilton anymore and what's great is that, once we get the first batch of cheese out of the factory, we are going to be able to stock it in a village location at The Old Cheese Shop and in a town at Cheese Factor. "That will be an excellent way to get Hartington Stilton to as many mouths as possible and show people why we were so keen to start making it again in the first place." Tens of thousands of pounds have been poured into getting the new Hartington Creamery up and running – much of it from grants but plenty still from the team's own back pockets. For the past few months, they have been tirelessly transforming their Pikehall farm site into a factory, completely renovating it to comply with health and safety regulations and buying in all the machinery they will need. "At its height, Hartington Creamery processed 170,000 litres of milk a day and turned it into Stilton," says Ady. "That's a little more than we will be making. But we're going to have huge vats that can hold 4,500 litres each and they will make half a ton of Stilton. That's still a lot of cheese!" The creamery will be given its grand unveiling in April and will be opened by actor and cheese lover Sean Wilson, who played Martin Platt in Coronation Street and now makes his own range of delicious cheeses. Sean is shown with Simon at Bakewell Show where he won First Prize for one of his Lancashire cheeses.

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