Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre, Yorkshire Dales - A Review and Need to know

Visit Date

February 2023

Our Family Visit

We visited the Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre as a family to explore how cheese was made. On the website there was information about the visitor centre and what we would see while there. It didn’t disappoint as the whole family enjoyed it.

It is a working site making cheese on site, so there were big trucks and lorries, going in and out, which was fun to see.

We easily found it and there was plenty of parking available.

We then headed to the entrance of the visitor visitor experience and we were greeted by a very friendly staff member who took payment and gave us further information about the experience. As I was ‘herding’ the kids for a picture, he offered to take a family picture! THANK YOU!

As we were paid our entrance we converted our entrance into a loyalty card which will give us free entry to entry to the creamery for 12 months. We were given a lovely membership card to use for entrance next time.

We had arrived just in time for a cheese making demonstration. These are regular, throughout the day and highly recommend you try and catch one when visiting. Our lovely host/cheesemaker – or as Google told me the fancy French word ‘fromager’ – Tracey gave an introduction about cheese and how it was made.

The mixing of the milk and rennet makes Junket.

A starter culture like yogurt which contains 3 types of bacteria is used. Lactic causes the proteins to cling together. Rennet is added which I am pleased to say is vegetarian which makes the cheese suitable for vegetarians!

This then makes Curds (hard lumps) and whey (liquid)

The curds and whey are separated.

Obviously there is alot more to this process so you will need to visit to find out more!

Once the cheese has been made, it is wrapped in Cheese cloth (cotton cloth) which allows cheese to breathe. After 6-8 week a lot of the cheeses are ready to be sold once they make it past the cheese inspection to make sure they are the required high quality cheese grade.

Yorkshire wenslydale Cheese wrapped in a cheese cloth

Yorkshire Wenslydale create 20 different cheeses on site. We visited around the museum area and saw equipment on display that had been used and how they have developed over the years.

Butter Making Display is coming soon!! How exciting!

Some Interesting facts:

Did you know cheese making was introduced by monks who settled in Wensleydale in 1150! During king Henry VIII and the dissolution of monasteries meant cheese making recipes were passed on to locals.

Today Wensleydale Creamery employs over 200 people as well as supporting local farms and businesses.

Cheese tasting area

We then visited the cheese tasting area!
(Yummy)

The Wensleydale Creamery Cheese Tasting Area

There was a massive variety of cheeses available for us to try. They were all delicious! The kids loved trying the different cheeses too which was fabulous!

Not many pictures here as were too busy eating cheese!!

The Factory

Yes! That is a big spade just for cheese!

We then went and visited the factory where cheese was being made. It is through a glass window and you can see different machinery and staff doing their jobs. The staff were very friendly, waving to the kids which was lovely.

Highlights

The grown ups! Well, we loved trying the cheese!!

• Seeing the trucks making deliveries.

• The kids really enjoyed the play/imagination area.

• The cheese/farm shop!

Need to Know

Obviously not suitable for Lactose intolerant people, great that the cheeses are suitable for Vegetarian.

Any improvements

It isn’t a huge site and pretty self-explanatory, however a map would be great.

Maybe a quiz for grown ups /kids?? We always explore more when there is a task!

Conclusion

We absolutely loved our time at Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre in the Yorkshire Dales, what a great experience learning about where cheese is made and the local history of how it came to be!

The variety of cheeses available was great, you are always abit doubtful when it says come and try some samples. We were able to try as many as we liked as were the children. There were lots of wooden sticks, paper pots and napkins available for cleanliness which was also a big bonus!!