About Us

We began Shepherds Purse Artisan Cheeses in the late 1980’s after our Mum, Judy Bell, discovered her passion and talent for cheese making as she set out on a mission to create quality dairy alternatives for cow’s milk allergy sufferers.

Mum won our first Gold award in 1989 with Olde York at Nantwich International Cheese Show and awards have been an important part of Shepherds Purse since. In 2017 we had our best year yet with Harrogate Blue wining Super Gold at the World Cheese awards and being name in the top 15 cheeses in the World! And 2023/4 has marked another stellar year with Mrs Bell's Blue winning a 3 Star Great Taste Award, Buffalo Blue picking up a string of top awards, and our new Organic Yorkshire Blue picking up major trophies too!

We have grown organically over the years. Having started by making cheese only from sheep milk, we extended our range to include cow's milk and even water buffalo milk cheeses.

Today, we are best known for our blue cheeses Yorkshire Blue and Harrogate Blue, and for our sheep milk Mediterranean salad-style cheese, Mrs Bell's Salad Cheese as well as our sheep milk blue Mrs Bell's Blue.

As Shepherds Purse has grown, we remain a proud, independent family business, making cheese in the traditional way on our farm in North Yorkshire. The Shepherds Purse team is now a team of 35 passionate artisans being led by Judy’s two daughters Katie and Caroline

Our Cheese Selections