A CELEBRATION of some of the area’s small cheese makers is being held in May.

Country Harvest, near Ingleton, is holding a cheese and wine evening on May 19 to help promote local cheese makers and encourage people to explore the fantastic food made on their doorstep. The cheeses include one made by a young farming couple who are diversifying into the world of cheese making for the first time; others are by more established makers with decades of experience behind them.

For some it will be the first chance to try cheeses like Fellstone, a Wensleydale-style cheese made by Clare and Tom Noblet at their 250-acre upland hill farm Whin Yeats in Hutton Roof. The couple, both 30, only started producing the cheese - which has a fresh flavour and is matured for two months wrapped in cloth and butter - from their 80-strong herd of Holstein Friesians last autumn. Now they have just started selling small batches through Country Harvest.

Other cheeses on offer at the tasting in May include one produced by Ribblesdale, a small artisan producer based in Hawes which specialises in goats cheese; the milk is sourced from a single herd of goats in Lancashire and used to create cheeses on their Yorkshire farm.

Sykes Fell Ewes Milk cheese, handmade by the Procter family in Goosnargh, will also be on offer at the event, alongside a Blue Swaledale , rich from cows’ milk with a natural rind, crafted in Richmond, North Yorkshire.

The five cheeses will all be accompanied by wines selected by Chris Leather from Stainton Wines in Kendal. Chris will host the evening and discuss each of the wines in turn and why they should be paired with that particular cheese.

Country Harvest’s Food Hall manager Richard Simmonds said: “Country Harvest is in such a great location where the Dales meet the Lakes and on the cusp of Lancashire too so we’ve chosen cheeses from all three counties. We’ve got a long association with a lot of these cheese makers and we’re also really excited to be the only seller of Fellstone cheese in Yorkshire – it really couldn’t be more local to us as Clare Noblet’s parents are our next door neighbours at Country Harvest! We think we’ve put together a really interesting night for fans of good food and those who like things made from local producers....we’ve included one cheese from much further afield though as we thought it would be a real challenge for Chris! With his encyclopaedic knowledge of wine I’m sure he’ll be fine though and that we’re all going to learn plenty of things too.”

Tickets for the event which runs from 7pm-8.30pm on May 19 cost £10 and are available from Country Harvest on the A65 at Ingleton. Stainton Wines is the main stockists of wine at Country Harvest, a combined food emporium, coffee shop and gift hall.