The Cholmondeley Estate
The Estate Dairy is based on the Cholmondeley Estate in Cheshire.
The estate land takes in parkland, woodland and a working network of tenant farms that have shaped this part of the county. Our dairy sits within that landscape, alongside the working farms whose milk we use. The land is good for grazing and the climate is forgiving. The farms around us are family-run, with a long heritage of working this land with passion and with sustainability in mind.
The estate has worked with its tenant farmers to help shape Defra’s new environmental land management schemes, helping integrate nature recovery strategies within the farmed environment. This reflects a commitment to sustainable agricultural practices and environmental stewardship alongside traditional farming operations.
Cheshire is dairy country
There’s a reason this part of the country has produced exceptional dairy. Three things make it work.
The Land
The Cheshire Plain was shaped at the end of the last ice age, when retreating glaciers left behind a thick layer of clay. It isn’t much good for cereals, but it grows extraordinary grass.
The Climate
The lowlands sit in what’s call the Cheshire Gap, a corridor between the Welsh hills and the Pennines that funnels weather systems inland. The result is regular rain and mild temperatures, the conditions grass likes best.
The Heritage
Cheshire has always been a dairy county. It gave its name to Cheshire cheese, one of the oldest recorded named cheeses in Britain, and the pastures here have been keeping cows in milk since well before any of the dairies that work them today had names. The land has been doing this for a very long time. We’re glad to be doing it here.
A Family Thread
Rebecca’s family have farmed on the Cholmondeley Estate throughout her life. Their knowledge of the land and the herds shaped how Shaun and Rebecca think about dairy from the very beginning.
Bringing the business back here was always the aim. Some of it was practical, working with the farms close to home and cutting the distance between milk and finished product. Some of it was less practical and more meaningful. This is where the people who built the dairy come from.