Longley Farm and Shepherds Purse Triumph at Cheese & Dairy Show

At the recent Cheese & Dairy Show, Longley Farm and Shepherds Purse emerged as prominent winners, with both companies securing multiple top awards. Longley Farm, based in Holmfirth, received the prestigious David Hartley Memorial Trophy for Supreme Champion Dairy Product with its Luxury Jersey Butter. This product also won the award for Best Yorkshire Product. In addition to these accolades, Longley Farm collected six top prize rosettes, including Reserve Champion Dairy Product for its Crème Fraîche Epaisse and Best Cream.

Jimmy Dickinson, the owner of Longley Farm, expressed satisfaction with the recognition, emphasizing the effort involved in creating such high-quality products. Meanwhile, Shepherds Purse, a family-run business, won the Judy Bell Memorial Trophy for Supreme Champion Cheese with their Organic Yorkshire Blue. This marked the second time the cheese clinched this title, having first won it in 2024. Katie Matten, joint managing director of Shepherds Purse, highlighted their dedication to cheese-making and celebrated the repeated success of their product.

Shepherds Purse, based near Thirsk, secured four top honors in total. The event also introduced a new category, the digital cheese classes, where Leeds resident Jess Waterton Bailey and her mother-in-law Pam Knighton from Bedale won Best Display of Cheese with their cheese celebration cake. This cake, a recreation of a multi-tiered cake made for a wedding, featured seven different cheeses, including Yorkshire Summerfields-Botton and Ribblesdale Blue Goat.

Ms. Waterton Bailey, who runs Graze by Posh Cheese, expressed her delight at winning, noting the personal significance of the victory. Many of the cheeses that won rosettes at the show were also featured in a charity cheese auction.