Denhay Farms

Butcher | Cheesemonger

Denhay Farm is the only cheese-producing farm left in Marshwood Vale which Thomas Hardy described as a ‘vale of small dairies’.

Using pasteurised milk from their own Friesian herd which has recently been Freedom Food approved, the husband and wife team George and Amanda Streatfield make Cheddar in block, traditional cloth-bound 5.5kg (56lb) rinded wheels or Dorset Drums, a 2kg (4½lb) truckle. They also carry on the butter-making tradition using the whey from cheese-making and produce a cheery, yellow, mildly cheesy, salted whey cream butter.
 
Until recently they also kept pigs. This was an economically sound practice on every dairy farm as the pigs could be fed the whey, a by-product of cheese and butter-making. However now the Streatfields buy them in to their own specification and make Denhay air-dried ham, dry-cured bacon and cured sausages. 
 
Denhay ham is made by curing the legs in brine with Dorset apple juice, honey and herbs, then lightly smoking them over oak chippings before air-drying them for several months. The result, a cross between an Italian Parma and a German Westphalian ham, is more resilient in texture than Parma.