Wensleydale Creamery Hawes

TOday our village Social Club had a trip to Hawes, a place I have never been before.  I hadn't thought it would be so touristy, but there was plenty to see and do.  Our main interest for the majority of the party was the Creamery.

After a very pleasant run in wonderful weather we arrived around lunch time.  Clickychick and I wandered up the mainstreet and feeling the need for something long and cold we went into the Fountain Hotel.  Lunch and a good pint of Guinness later we continued through the town arriving at the creamery, where after a coffee we went to the Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese Experience.

Note the name including Yorkshire is important.  It seems that after WW11 the government encourage cheese making all over the country and allowed local cheeses e.g. Cheddar to be made anywhere.  However Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese is now a protected name.  If it doesn't say Yorkshire it could be made anywhere.

The blip shows Adrian (I think that is what he said his name was) giving a demonstration of cheese making.  As he carried out the various stages he related what he was doing to what went on in the factory.  Cameras above the bench showed us on a number of screens what was happening in his bowls.

After the demonstration we wandered round the extensive museum that ended in the gallery for viewing the cheese making.  Unfortunately we were late in the day and they had got to the cleaning down stage.  The mass of stainless steel equipment was very impressive.

All in all a very interesting and enjoyable day.

P.S.   The blip shows Adrian showing how in the few minutes he had been talking the gallon (he admitted he didn't understand metric measures) of milk had turned into a solid slightly springy mass.