06/03/13 Cheese factory - Hartington, LeekHartington Cheese factory, Pike Hall Farm, Pikehall.Adrian Cartlidge, Alan SaltA CHEESE factory is thought to be just weeks away from achieving accreditation as a producer of stilton.
Hartington Creamery began production of cheese in October last year, re-starting a traditional industry in Hartington which had vanished with the closure of the Long Clawson factory in 2009.
The creamery, which has set up in former farm buildings at Pikehall, is currently producing Peakland White and Pikehall Blue cheeses and the team of five who run the business are eagerly awaiting news that they have achieved stilton accreditation. Stilton has a protected designation of origin by the European Commission, which means only cheese produced to a set criteria in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
There are currently just five creameries producing stilton, two in Nottinghamshire and three in Leicestershire, meaning accreditation for Hartington Creamery would see a return to production of the cheese in Derbyshire.
Former Long Clawson cheese maker Adrian Salt, from Leek; food safety consultant and former Long Clawson Dairy technician Adrian Cartlidge, also from Leek; Claire and Garry Millner, from Longnor, who run the factory’s distribution hub, Hartington Cheese Shop, and Simon Davison, who runs The Cheese Factor shop in Chesterfield invested in the new business. Later this year, the business will also be hosting cheese-making courses at the creamery.
