How it all began, a brief history
The ‘vale of little dairies’
Sturminster Newton, situated in the heart of the Blackmore Vale was referred to by Thomas Hardy as ‘The vale of little dairies’. Prior to the First World War, agriculture was very different to the way we see it today. Milk production was generally on a small scale and farms used much of the milk for their own consumption, selling any surplus locally.
The development of transportation by rail in the late 1800s, specifically the Somerset and Dorset Railway that ran through the town created a potentially fast route to the growing market for milk in London.
The Creamery
In 1913 a group of farmers in Sturminster Newton decided to form a Co-operative which could distribute their milk more efficiently and a creamery was built alongside the railway line from where their milk could be easily sent up to London. In 1937 the creamery was taken over by the Milk Marketing Board.
Following the Second World War, the 1950s meant that local creameries came into their own. The Milk Marketing Board decided that each of its creameries would specialise in a restricted number of regional cheeses and Sturminster Newton concentrated on Double Gloucester, Caerphilly and Cheddar.
Many changes occurred over the subsequent years and new technology meant that the creamery was constantly evolving. October 1983 saw new a cheese making building increasing the manufacturing capacity from 58,000 litres to 72,000 litres of milk per day. Ten years later a £1.7m investment was made by Dairy Crest Ltd to further increase capacity to 80,000 litres/day.
However, during the 1990s whilst continuing to produce high quality cheese for all the major UK retailers, the creamery was under increasing pressure to reduce its manufacturing costs.
The Cheese Festival - The Beginnings
In 1998 the Creamery won many awards for cheese in the various national competitions and the Creamery Manager, Peter Mitchell, was approached by Lynne Saunders (the Towns community liaison officer) who wanted to know if, as the largest employer in the town, the creamery could do something to help bring back the much-needed visitors and put Sturminster Newton back on the map.
Initially, they looked at the possibility of holding an event to promote cheese - not just produced at the creamery but also by other cheese makers in the area. However, to give the event more attraction to visitors they could not rely on cheese alone as being the only attraction, so other small scale food producers were invited.
In 1999 preparations began for the first Cheese Festival. A general interest meeting was held at the High School and a committee was set up which became known as The Cheese Board. The local National Farmers Union office and the County Council provided the much-needed funding to help start the event. A programme of events over the second weekend of September was devised. The Creamery opened to visitors and Harts of Stur provided some refreshments and a BBQ. The local scouts provided a tent on the recreation ground for stallholders who included our very local Dorset Blue Vinney Cheese, over the weekend there was even a fashion show, live music and a quiz to round off on the Event on Sunday evening.
The weekend turned out to be a great success with the promise of being repeated the following year - and it is still going strong.
