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About Us

Meet the Teesdale Cheesemakers!

Who We Are?

Teesdale Cheesemakers was formally Leaside Cheesemakers, founded by Brian and Esme Dedman in 2012. We are a husband and wife team Allison and Jonathan Raper, who took over the business in January 2016.

We use milk from the family farm to make our cheeses.

In January 2019 we moved to new premises and our café and small shop Cheesedale opened on November 15th 2019.

Cheesedale is a cheese-centric cafe and shop where the menu revolves around the cheese we make on the premises. You can take a peek into the dairy and see where the cheese is made, meet our rare breed pigs who are fed on the whey from the cheesemaking and enjoy a great cheese board and cup of locally roasted coffee in the cafe.

Allison grows fruit and veg and keeps bees and her endeavors supply a small but growing range of produce to the cafe and shop.

Our menu changes in line with our produce on the farm but we always have our award winning cheeses.

In October 2021 we opened our glamping lodges and in 2022 Robson Green came to stay and film.  He found the scenery breathtaking. 

Having the lodges give us an opportunity to share the peace and tranquility of our farm and the surrounding area.  It's beautiful, in all weathers and all seasons.

And last year we introduced our experiences.  Now you can come for a tour of the dairy, a cheese tasting with Jonathan or even make the cheese for a day with Allison.

So...that's us for the moment.  Who knows what the future will bring but for now, let us invite you to come and share a slice of cheese and tranquility.

#EATMAKESTAY

About Us

Our Products

We make ten soft cheeses:

  • Teesdale Blue - a mild creamy Blue (cow's milk)
  • White Hilton - a complex creamy white cheese that changes as you chew it
  • Teesdale Goat - a mild mellow goat with our distinct rind to finish it off
  • Barney Brie - a robust farmhouse brie
  • Doris - a dales style cheese, crumbly in the middle with a soft edging
  • Allison's Garlic Special - inspired by a maltese recipe and a nod to Allison's maltese roots.
  • Nanny Blue - a blue goat cheese with a mild rocquefort flavour
  • Ronnie - using a similar recipe to Doris but cut, waxed and matured for a tangier more acidic flavour
  • Durham Blue - only available here at the farm. A red blue cheese that is creamy with a rich blue taste with an acidic twang that rounds the flavour off nicely.
  • Copley Crumble - our newest addition to the range and only available here at the farm.  A red dales style cheese, crumbly and inspired by the beautiful red sunrises and sunets over our home here at Copley.
  • Bishop Blue - launched in April 2023 at the Bishop Food Festival.  A firmer, more crumbly and saltier blue than our others.  A great addition to the Cheesedale range.
  • & our flavoured Teesdale Dessert Cheeses: Velvet, designed to pimp up your pud or have as a sweet treat!
About Us

How to get your hands on our cheese?

We sell at a limited number of food festivals and events, we'd love to see you there.

You can enjoy our cheese at our licensed Cheesedale cafe & shop (please check opening times) or we now sell it online!

About Us

What our customers say

Lucky to have this brilliant cafe a few miles from home so makes for a nice break when out on the bike. Food really is excellent and the cheese made onsite is incredible. Owners and staff are always really friendly. Well worth a stop.

Mark, Google Review

Cracking cafe, great food, great owners and perfect location.

Ian, Google Review

Friendly and informative people. Selling homemade cheese and burgers as well as delicious cakes .Rustic cafe with seating outside and warm log fire inside .Good value for money. Small shop selling local produce .You can also attend cheese making courses .You can visit the pigs and feed the goat.

Julie, Trip Advisor

Stumbled upon this…beautiful rural setting, great walking/cycling, dog friendly shop and cafe with views!!!! Fantastic opportunity to try a selection of their home made cheeses, sausage and bacon, beautiful little shop with all local sourced products, I forgot to take pictures I was enjoying that much, really pretty environment and welcoming owners and team. Everything about this place is local, homely, made with love, served with pleasure and passionate about what they do Their videos on Fb are so lovely and natural x dog friendly, kids friendly, adults friendly, cyclists friendly, walkers and explorers friendly

Beverley, Trip Advisor