Rhi-Review - The Courtyard Dairy

The day was yesterday. The location was Austwick, near Settle in Lancashire. And the destination/cheesy haven was The Courtyard Dairy.

As if I wasn't excited enough on my journey to have lunch here, you exit enter through the gift cheese shop, which is filled with a counter of cheeses and shelves of more goodness, including chutneys, crackers, craft beers and CHEESE WEDDING CAKES (which are essentially beautifully decorated mountains of cheese... I would be tempted to marry the cake instead). As we arrived with the intention to dine and not just nibble on samples (plenty of which were offered to us after our meal), we walked through into the next room where there's a small cheese museum. A small museum about cheese, not a museum of small cheese (medium and big cheese were also accounted for).

these are the type of facts I live for

We then hopped gleefully up the stairs to the cafe, a style that we would later find impossible to replicate on the way down due to filling our entire bodies with gooey fromage. The seating area is stretched across the top of the building and has a green (always good) and yellow theme with wicked matching felt bunting featuring cows and cheese wedges. My inner crafter appreciated this very much.

spot that cute bunting

As the main ingredient across our dishes was either cold or hot cheese, we were served quickly after our drinks and frankly stunned because everything looked simultaneously fancy, edgy and utterly delicious yet simple at the same time. I ordered a cheese and beer pot which I'll post again here for your viewing ease:

featuring melted cheddar and beer with salsa, tortillas and a small gherkin/onion party

I could definitely taste the beer, in a good way, and the tortillas/salsa combo was an excellent addition. Really helped me with the whole cheddar consumption thing. My brother opted for a platter of cheese and veg/fruit, which you can spot in the top-right corner of the photo above, while my mum snaffled a very cheesy toastie complete with Bechamel sauce + salad. The most exciting thing of all was when one of the lovely waiting staff arrived with a giant half-moon of raclette cheese, the top of which had been heated, and slid a knife smoothly across the top so it cascaded onto a bowl of potatoes and veg. This was what my dad had for lunch, with a side of some good lookin' hams (see below).

on tables made from old cheeseboards

After eating and drinking (I had a lovely green tea, as well as the beer in my cheese...), we headed back downstairs and I couldn't help peeking out the window and noticing the beautiful countryside setting that The Courtyard Dairy is in, despite it being rather windy and grey outside.

It felt illegal to leave without getting some cheese to take home from the shop on the way out, which didn't take much, if any, persuading from the lady serving us (her cheese knowledge was hugely impressive by the way, as expected). After some deliberation, goods were bought and I now have a circle of Winslade in my fridge waiting to be baked to perfection. I also fell in love with some of their Brie, which went really well with the pasta I've been eating while writing this. So well, in fact, that I ate it so fast that I forgot to take a picture of the dish when it was full. The following is the best I can do I'm afraid:

did originally feature wholewheat pasta, garlic, spinach & brie (sorry again)

Overall, if you think cheese is great, I would really recommend taking a drive out to The Courtyard Dairy if you're ever in that neck of the woods and are mildly hungry/want to brush up on your cheese knowledge. You can even take it to the next level and sign up for cheese-making courses.
For any vegans reading this, I'm impressed that you've read this far (and rather flattered actually). To you, I would say "go along" as there are some lovely things to buy other than cheese, but you might prefer somewhere that smells different and doesn't have 'dairy' in the title or a giant (but rather cool) cow statue outside.

R x