Cheese in Hartington The Story So Far - CLAIRE AND GARRY MILLNER

Cheese in
Hartington
The Story So Far…
CLAIRE AND GARRY MILLNER

Who we are….

    Fully Qualified Building Surveyors/Engineers by Profession (now retired
     Members of the Association of Building Engineers)
    Owners of 5 local businesses:
    Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery in Chapel-en-le-Frith registered for 48
     children on a daily basis
    Little Rascals Play Centre in Buxton and 80 seater cafe
    Hartington Cheese & Wine Company in Hartington – retail & wholesale
    Hartington Creamery in Pike Hall – cheese producers
    Shawfields Farm and Holiday Cottages in Reapsmoor – 33 acre
     smallholding with 1 recently completed holiday let, one permanent
     rental property and 1 holiday let under going renovation and our own
     family home
    Employers of 42 staff (across our business)

Why we are here……

    To give an insight into how we started our cheese journey

    How we have expanded the Old Cheese Shop in Hartington

    How we started in cheese production

    Tell you about the new cheeses we are now making

Where our cheese story started……

    Summer 2009 we bought the Old Cheese Shop in Hartington and
     officially started trading as the Hartington Cheese & Wine Company
     on 22nd October of the same year

Successes..

    We have doubled our original turnover and should triple it by the
     end of this financial year.
    We have introduced a greater range of local and British cheeses
     and try to sell as much local produce as possible.
    We also have a good range of local beers and English Wines which
     are very popular with our 50,000 customers who are predominantly
     tourists
    Established less than 2 years ago we now operate a busy wholesale
     business that runs alongside the shop, serving around 130
     restaurants, hotels, farm shops etc. across Derbyshire, Staffordshire
     and Cheshire – Chatsworth Farm Shop being our biggest customer
    We have also established a successful online shop sending cheese
     all over the UK and indeed the world!

Successes continued…

    We have branched out into wedding/celebration cakes & last year
     delivered personally or posted out around 100 cakes & the number
     of cakes is growing year on year due to predominantly” word of
     mouth”

Deliveries abroad…

    We even sent wedding cakes abroad. This one went to Portugal!

Export..

    We now export on a fortnightly basis to a company called I Love
     Cheese in Tokyo who operate a small wholesale business to hotels
     and restaurants that are frequented by a large community of ex-
     pats, although their Japanese client base is growing too!
    And our first delivery to Singapore is being shipped out this week!

Help along the way….

    We were very fortunate to receive a grant from LEADER to help us
     purchase our refrigerated delivery van, a heavy duty gazebo so we
     can attend outside food events and tables/chairs for our customers
     to enjoy the garden area at the shop

    We have also recently had a massive boost to the number of
     people visiting our online shop since we have been linked to the
     Visit Peak District website which directs traffic to local suppliers and
     producers who can post out their products to customers

Next phase…. Cheese Production..

    Almost 3 years ago we were approached by two ex-employees
     from Long Clawsons (Alan Salt and Adrian Cartlidge) who asked if
     they ever resurrected cheese making again would we sell any of
     their cheese in our shop

    This lead to plenty of discussions and ended up with us all joining
     forces to form a new company, find premises, source finance, apply
     for another LEADER grant and start the long and arduous journey
     into making cheese again in Derbyshire

    Eventually we found some redundant barns available to rent on a
     farm at Pike Hall (still within the Parish of Hartington)

That was then…

   The barns were definitely not suitable for cheese making! And both ourselves and
    the landlord had plenty of work to do.. And I can honestly say all the work was
    completed by the 5 Directors and just 2 other labourers!

This is now…

    After a total investment of £450,000 we now have a state of the art
     factory… and 2 highly skilled cheese makers overseeing our
     production!

More help along the way…

    The Peak Park Planning Authority, their officers and Jim Dixon were
     extremely supportive and helpful when submitting our Planning
     Application – offering lots of advice

    We successfully obtained a LEADER grant for £79,000 to help us
     purchase equipment

    Derbyshire Dales DC officers from the Building Control Dept and
     Environmental Health Dept were also extremely interested in our
     project as it was a “first” for them too – dealing with a new cheese
     making facility!

Momentous Occasion…

    In October 2012 the first milk was pumped through the pipes in our
     newly finished factory and we started making our first cheese. It was
     a very exciting and emotional day for us all as you can imagine?
 

The process …..

    The curd and whey separate and the curds are cut, crumbled by
     hand, salted and then milled. The milled cheese is then pressed into
     hoops and turned daily. The white cheese is chilled and is ready to
     eat in 2-3 weeks. The blue cheeses are then turned less frequently,
     are pierced twice and left to ripen for 10-12 weeks.
 

Where we are now…

    We currently make 4 cheeses – a creamy blue, a crumbly white and
     2 flavoured cheeses

    Our stilton license should be obtained officially around the middle of
     September and we can then start making Hartington Stilton again

    We have obtained a license from Long Clawson Dairy to use the
     “Hartington” name once again which is very important to us and we
     feel this is definitely our USP

    We are making currently around 25 tonnes of cheese with a view to
     increasing this to around 40 tonnes within 12 months

Some of our cheese…

Where do we go to from here?

    One of the other buildings on the site has been renovated by the
     landlord (who also received a LEADER grant) and subject to an
     approximate £15k further investment from ourselves to “kit it out” we
     will then be able to offer cheese making courses and
     demonstrations to the public (including educational visits for
     children)

    We are currently all working in the factory and employ two
     additional part time staff to help us out and this should increase to
     two full time and two part time in the new year, enabling two of our
     business partners Alan and Adrian to run the training courses

More aspirations for the Creamery..

    We would still like to develop some of the older buildings on the old
     Hartington Dairy site into a visitor centre/museum and have built up
     a substantial collection of artefacts and antiquities between us all in
     readiness (hopefully)

    We want to increase tourism into Hartington village and the wider
     community through the cheese connection and in doing so
     increase the number of customers in our shop and help to support
     and sustain all the businesses in Hartington

And for the shop….

    We are working on increasing our export market to other wholesalers
     around the world and are currently in discussions with a distributor in
     Sydney

    We are currently smartening up the exterior of the shop and have some
     lovely cheese artefacts to incorporate around the garden area for
     visitors to look at

    We are hoping to start serving rustic cheese platters with a glass of local
     beer or English Wine on the garden area outside the shop as this area is
     licensed to consume alcohol

    We are hoping to attend more food events and shows as we have now
     invested in a refrigerated trailer/serving counter

To end..

    In the 1870’s the then Duke of Devonshire originally set up a small
     creamery in Hartington and the cheese connection grew and grew
     through some well known names – Nuttalls, Dairy Crest and Long
     Clawson

    Hartington cheese has been resurrected and we hope the brand
     will continue to grow to once again become a world wide
     recognised brand

    We are continuing to work with other professional bodies to help us
     achieve this and always appreciate any help and support we get

And finally…

                  Last Friday we were privileged to invite
                   Lisa Simpson the Head Buyer for
                   Chatsworth along to the factory to help
                   us make some of our Peakland Blue
                   cheese.

                  The Duke will no doubt recognise Lisa in
                   this photo and it was a joy to have her
                   on site as she was, in a former career, a
                   cheese maker herself! She too shares
                   our passion for creating a local cheese
                   in Derbyshire and we hope to continue
                   our links with the Chatsworth Estate and
                   maybe one day we can make a
                   cheese specifically for them!