The Butlers family has been farming the Inglewhite area of Lancashire since the 1930’s.
Richard & Annie Butler used milk from their own herd to make cheese by hand in the farmhouse kitchen - cheese was even matured in the family bedrooms! Now their grand daughter Gill runs the business, and the milk which makes their award winning cheese still comes from the family farm - thanks to Gill’s brother, Andrew.
As much care and love goes into hand-making cheese at Butlers Wilson Fields Farm today as it did then and Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses continue to wow chefs, cheese experts and loyal fans with a raft of awards won at the worlds most prestigious cheese shows every year. Significant awards in 2014 so far include: Butlers Creamy Lancashire with a Gold Medal at the British Cheese Awards and the Lancashire Federation Trophy at the Cheshire Show; Rothbury Red Leicester with a Gold medal and Best Territorial Cheese Trophy at British Cheese Awards; Butlers Blacksticks Blue with three gold medals at the Nantwich International Cheese Show; Stunning new Bleasdale Bewety (sheeps’ cheese) with Gold and Best Speciality Cheese at the Great Yorkshire Show, Gold and Best Modern Cheese at the Nantwich International Cheese Show and Reserve Champion at the Cheshire Show and finally, Butler Farmhouse Taditional Tasty Lancashire made to the original family recipe continues to set the standard winning two Gold medals at the Nantwich International Cheese Show and voted Cheese Lovers Favourite in the shop by Peter Sidewell, presenter of ITV’S Britain’s Best Bakery and Executive Chef at Rheged in Cumbria.
Butlers most famous cheese is Blacksticks Blue. Since its creation, it has won an incredible 60 awards and is renowned for its soft,continental-style texture its delicate blue tang and its distinctive amber hue. The cheese has been praised from the very start by north west celebrity chefs Simon Rimmer and Nigel Haworth, Simon describing it as “The Daddy of all blue cheeses”. More recently it has starred in BBC Two’s Great British Food Revival and now it also counts celebrity chef Glynn Purnell and many others as devoted fans. Blacksticks Blue is celebrating its 10th Birthday this year and to mark the event, Butlers has launched a 10th Anniversary mini whole Blacksticks Blue truckle glazed with walnuts and honey: A fantastic cheese board centre piece and winner of “Best New Product” at the 2014 Nantwich International Cheese Show.
Some people are a bit unsure what to do with blue cheese, beyond the cheeseboard - but Blacksticks Blue is a fantastic, versatile ingredient which can add a twist to many dishes from a steak pie to a stroganoff. Try slicing any Blacksticks cheese finely onto a steak just before serving. Or you could crumble the cheese with breadcrumbs and herbs into a field mushroom and then grill. Visit www.butlerscheeses.co.uk or www.facebook.com/butlerscheese to find out more, for recipes or to buy Butlers cheese online.
