Contrary Life

Contrary Life is a website covering quirky events across the UK.

  • Home
  • About
  • Events by region
    • North East
    • North West
    • Yorkshire
    • East Midlands
    • West Midlands
    • East
    • London
    • South East
    • South West
    • Scotland
    • Northern Ireland
    • Wales
Home > Festival > A cheese festival in the Yorkshire Dales

A cheese festival in the Yorkshire Dales

By Caroline King - September 23, 2017Posted in : Alternative Sport, Classes & Workshops, FEATURED-STORIES, Festival, Food & Drink, Walks

Wensleydale Creamery 2 men with cheese

There’ll be plenty of cheese at the Wensleydale Creamery

When: 23rd – 30th September 2017

Where: Yorkshire Dales

£: Free, but there is a fee for some of the activities

What is it?

The Yorkshire Dales National Park’s first Cheese Festival will be taking place from Saturday 23rd to Saturday 30th September with locally produced cheese and more than 20 different events.

Amongst a host of sampling, making and cookery demonstrations, visitors to the festival at The Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes can also combine tastings with walking, cycling, climbing or canoeing their way round the Dales and Nidderdale during a week-long programme of events.

Cyclists can join a 50-mile ‘Meet the Makers’ jaunt through the country lanes from Wensleydale to Jervaulx Abbey near Ripon, before returning through Coverdale and eating up the miles with a number of sampling stops along the way.

Meanwhile walkers can stride out on one of the milk and cheese guided walks, combining visits to The Wensleydale Creamery, farms and the Dales Countryside Museum to glean more about the rich dairy heritage.

Runners can sign up to the four-mile off-road Truckle Run at Askrigg Camping or take on the Yorkshire Dales Team Building’s challenge of climbing at Twistleton Scar near Hawes in the morning, before spending an afternoon canoeing on Semerwater, interspersed with a ploughman’s cheese picnic lunch.

Yorkshire Dales Cheese Festival - Stephen Garnett

Get ready for the Yorkshire Dales Cheese Festival (Photo: Stephen Garnett)

Food lovers can sample an array of locally produced cheese, bread, oatcakes, meat, foraged food and preserves throughout the festival week, while restaurants, farm shops and cafés from Malham to Sedbergh, Hawes to Ripon, pull out the stops to lay on wine and cheese parties and special celebratory dining menus. The week culminates with a celebration of local game at Bolton Castle in Wensleydale on Saturday 30th September.

Kids can get in on the action too with visits to the new Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese Experience, or by getting creative with craft activities such as making a cheese label. They can also spend a day in the woods at the Aysgarth Falls Visitor Centre, listening to stories while eating cheese and foraged woodland goodies sitting around a campfire.

The Cheese Festival will run from 10am to 5pm on both Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th September at The Wensleydale Creamery.  It will be free to attend, but some charges will be made to participate in certain activities.

More info: www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/visit-the-dales/cheese-festival-17

Related Posts

  • Join Tea and Tolerance in Leeds for a day of conversation, activities and tea
  • Sheep racing and brewery tours at Masham Sheep Fair
  • Crocodiles, rusty nails and a stunt egg at Skipton Puppet Festival
  • Dramatic tales with Dreaming the Night Field
  • Fromage fans head to London's Cheese Street
  • Have an offal-ly good time at the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships

Tagged With: Family events, Free events, Yorkshire

Curiosity of the Week

Woodhenge, Stonehenge’s lesser-known neighbour
Woodhenge - ©English Heritage, Historic England Photo Library

You have heard of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, but have you heard of its lesser known neighbour, Woodhenge? Find out more in our latest Curiosity of the Week…

Top Story

A five-metre tall puppet travels through Crawley
Aura’s Odyssey with five-metre tall puppet visits Crawley

This week, see a five-metre tall puppet travel through Crawley in West Sussex. Puppet Aura will visit the town centre and parks, and ride on an open-top bus…

What are you looking for today?

  • Alternative Sport
  • Art
  • Cabaret and Circus
  • Cinema
  • Classes, Workshops & Talks
  • Club Night
  • Comedy
  • Dance
  • Exhibitions and Installations
  • Fairs and Markets
  • Festival
  • Food & Drink
  • Heritage and History
  • Interview
  • Literature
  • Museum
  • Music
  • Nature and Outdoors
  • Review
  • Science and Technology
  • Theatre
  • Walks and Tours

Sign up to our Newsletter

Copyright © 2022 · Contrary Life