AN expanded dairy in the Yorkshire Dales has been officially opened by the Duchess of Northumberland.

Lady Jane Percy helped to ‘split the cheese’ at The Courtyard Dairy in Settle to formally declare the shop open.

The expanded and enhanced premises have been in use since mid-June, awaiting an opportunity for Lady Percy to give it her blessing.

She did the same five years ago when the shop first came into existence.

The expanded Courtyard Dairy is now located in what was formerly the Yorkshire Dales Falconry Centre, on the A65 between Settle and Austwick, four miles from its original home.

The new premises not only encompass the multi-award-winning cheese shop, but are enhanced by the addition of an innovative cheese-specialising café, a small cheese museum and display area, and a useful dedicated room in which cheese can be made and cheese-making courses held.

The guests and dignitaries that attended the official opening included several Michelin-starred chefs and cheese-makers, including Andrew Wildsmith of The Forest Side Restaurant, Grasmere, Stephen Place, the chairman of Craven District Council, and Alistair Pearson, one of only two remaining cheese-makers in Yorkshire still making cheese on the farm with unpasteurised milk.

Mr Pearson was delighted with The Courtyard Dairy’s success and its much-needed move to new larger premises, saying, “They’re so supportive of us small farm producers, there is very few cheese shops as good as this in the UK, and this new place is fantastic”

Food from the new café was on offer, including hot grilled Raclette made with English cheese, and there were several competitions on the go, including ‘Coco-cheese-shy’ where guests competed to see who could knock whole cheeses off pedestals using catapulted Babybel cheeses!

Seven years ago Lady Percy presented Andy Swinscoe, co-owner of The Courtyard Dairy, with a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (QEST) enabling him to investigate the art of ‘affinage’ (cheese maturing) in France.

Working with renowned ‘affineur’ Hervé Mons, Andy developed his expertise before putting it into practice with cheese specialists in London and Bath. Finding the time was right to start his own business, Andy and his wife, Kathy, set up the original The Courtyard Dairy in 2012.