It’s Stilton cheese week from 10 October to 18 October 2026.
Back in 2010 I wrote:
“Blue Stilton, the ‘King of Cheese’, has a history that is so well-documented it is unneccesary to repeat it here, save to say that it now has the status of a ‘protected designation of origin’, which means that only cheese made in Leicestershire, Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire, to strictly enforced standards, can be called Stilton…”
“…There are only seven licensed Stilton producers in the world. Four in Leicestershire, 2 in Nottinghamshire and 1 in Derbyshire. Other than the Derbyshire dairy, they are all within about 20 miles of Melton Mowbray, of pork pie fame.”
Sadly, there are only four left now.
Back in 2010 there were:
- Long Clawson, Leicestershire – one of the oldest farmers’ co-operatives in the UK.
- Tuxford and Tebbutt, Leicestershire – part of the Milklink group
- Webster’s, Leicestershire – a small dairy who also produce organic Stilton.
- Quenby Hall, Leicestershire – the birthplace of Stilton.
- Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire – family owned creamery.
- Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire – another farmers’ co-operative.
- Hartington, Derbyshire – established by the Duke of Devonshire.
Quenby Hall closed in 2011, and Webster’s didn’t survive the effects of Covid and closed in 2020. Tuxford and Tebbutt closed in 2024.
Webster’s was the first Stilton cheese I ate as a child. The accountants Dad worked for did their audit. It was an incredible dairy, in a row of cottages and their outbuildings; it looked nothing like you’d imagine a dairy should. The Webster sisters had started it and, in later years, it was owned and run by another pair of sisters, Margaret and Helen Callow. This tiny dairy in a tiny village in the middle of England exported 80% of its production and was known around the world.
