Summer Blues: Celebrating 30 Years of our Signature Blues

Where it began… 

This year marks 30 years since the launch of two of our most popular and award-winning cheeses, Yorkshire Blue, our creamy, mild cow’s milk blue cheese and its deliciously mellow ewe’s milk counterpart, Mrs Bell’s Blue.

Both have became cornerstones of our range over the last three decades, gaining a legion of fans along with a host of prestigious industry awards.

Their launch, by our founder Judy back in 1995, saw the return of blue cheese production to Yorkshire for the first time in nearly 35 years and set the scene for Shepherds Purse to become one of Britain’s most renowned artisanal cheesemakers.

Awards arrived almost immediately with Yorkshire Blue named Champion Blue Cheese at the Nantwich International Cheese Show in 1996 and Mrs Bell’s Blue the following year.

As Shepherds Purse has grown, so too has our range of creamy, artisan blue cheeses

National and International awards for both cheeses have since followed each year, most notably with Mrs Bell's Blue receiving a very rare and extremely prestigious 3* Great Taste Award in 2023, a huge testament to the continued care and attention of our cheesemakers here on the farm.

Since their launch, and as Shepherds Purse has grown, so too has our range of creamy, artisan blue cheeses as we've continued to innovate, develop and evolve.

Building on the success of Yorkshire Blue and Harrogate Blue, our team developed a deliciously indulgent and creamy buffalo milk version, Buffalo Blue, made using milk sourced from a single herd of Italian water buffalo.

Further innovation soon followed

Further innovation soon followed with our mould ripened Bluemin White (think a blue cheese style Brie with an unciously gooey middle) and our Northern Blue with its slightly stronger, more robust notes.

In 2012 our founder Judy handed the Shepherds Purse reigns to daughters Caroline and Katie, who in the same year launched their first collaborative cheese, our much-loved buttery and rich Harrogate Blue.

Achieving international acclaim almost as soon as it was released, Harrogate Blue was awarded a coveted Super Gold at the World Cheese Awards in 2017/18, where it was judged the 11th best cheese in the world!

Achieving international acclaim almost as soon as it was released

More recently in 2024, and in the true spirit of our heritage of collaboration and innovation, we introduced Organic Yorkshire Blue, with the organic milk adding sweet, meadowy notes and a deliciously different spin on our classic, original Yorkshire Blue.