The Courtyard Dairy and Camphill Trust

It has been quite a while since I have driven up through the Yorkshire Dales and even when I did do the journey for work I rarely had time to stop and explore. So, whilst going to collect my youngest from university, I dropped in for a break from driving at The Courtyard Dairy just off the A65 beyond Settle

At the moment, there are of course safeguards and restrictions to protect transmission of Covid-19, and so the coffee hut in the foreground of the picture below was self service, but still a nice cup after quite a long drive!

However, the main reason to call here was to get some cheese and they have an amazing selection of small producer cheeses from all over the UK. 

A perspex screen seperates the customer from the staff in the entrance, which is just around the corner from the end of the path by the far building. However, there is a slot in the barrier, with a cheese board upon which samples of cheese are put by the staff for customers to try!

I opted for two cheeses, Young Buck - a blue cheese made in Northern Ireland and Dale End, made at Camphill, Botton, North Yorkshire, a community of learning disabled people. 

When buying the cheese, I wasn't aware of this community, but having supported learning disabled clients in care work it was very pleasing and interesting to me to find out about the work of the Camphill Trust  and that I have bought a product which supports this community. 

As I have said many times, it is so important to support local businesses and food producers and this will be especially important over coming months and years given Brexit and the UK Government's proposals for the farming sector. 

https://www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk/

https://www.camphillvillagetrust.org.uk/how-we-work/