Cotherstone

The Cross family began making Cotherstone in 1947, when a winter storm left their farm snowed in and the milk undeliverable. Cheesemaking offered a way to preserve the milk—and a new family tradition was born. Joan Cross carried that tradition forward for over 40 years using a cherished family recipe, with Cotherstone becoming a fixture in the Neal’s Yard Dairy selection. Joan retired in 2023, but the cheese lives on: her son Gordon revived production in 2024, becoming the third generation of the family to make the cheese. Cotherstone is a traditional Dales-style cheese, made in Teesdale, just across the river from the village that gives it its name. Similar in style to Wensleydale and Swaledale, it is a semi-hard cheese with a light, crumbly texture and a fresh, lactic flavour.

Most Cotherstone is enjoyed locally as a fresh, unripened cheese. However, at Neal’s Yard Dairy, we salt the cheese the day after it arrives at our maturing rooms in Bermondsey. This draws out excess moisture and helps form a firmer rind. The cheese is then kept in one of our cooler maturing rooms, where it's turned several times a week for about a month. Once the rind reaches the desired texture, the cheese is wrapped and moved to a cold room to further mature, allowing the texture to soften and the flavours to deepen.