Norbury Blue
Shot put together for SSC , 12/11/22 -- Blue .
Well not an out and out " Blue " capture , but the subject is called Blue - that is " Norbury Blue " cheese - it is an "Artisan" cheese whatever that is and me not being a fine diner or food expert has had to find out . This is a cheese that has been developed reasonable recently from Norbury Park Farm ( seen in the first comment box below ) which is just off of the A24 Leatherhead to Dorking road and sits at the edge of Norbury Park . Would you believe that long ago during my stint on the milk in between my surveying days and my days of dry cleaning , I delivered milk to the houses over in the right of the picture below .
Anyway , I have never tried Norbury Blue but luckily it is available to buy near to me , so a piece was purchased and used in the shot before I tasted any - a very fine blue cheese lovely and soft/creamy with quite a strong flavour .
I will let the makers tell their story from their web site and from the Surrey Hills website -----------
Started in 2001 Norbury Blue & Dirty Vicar soon became a cheese's noted locally for their distinct taste and flavour which is derived our family run closed herd of fresian cows whom have a rich and diverse diet, also which adds to the unique flavour is the fact that all the flavours are not cooked out with the commonly used pasteurisation process.
The closed herd of Fresian cows Graze on the lush meadow grasses at the foot of the South Downs by the Rother Valley. The cows roam freely Spring through to Autumn as of January 2018 are now being milked by robots, meaning that the cows are free to get milked when it suits them, producing a more relaxing atmosphere and ultimately happier cows!
The milk is collected from the farm and delivered to the cheese making dairy 45 minutes away where it is then pumped into a 900 litre vat and heated. The moulds are then loaded by hand and salted washed and transferred into the maturing room where they stay for around 4 weeks. When the test results are returned the cheese is ready to be marketed.
Norbury Park Farm Cheese Company Ltd is a small family run company and we pride ourselves in our handmade artisan product and our non commercial attitude towards our much loved cheese that cannot be found in any supermarket.
That's why you will always find Neil and Michaela put quality before profit.
We started making cheese in 2002 on the family dairy farm when milk prices were 18p a litre!
The idea was to add value to our milk and create a job for myself on the farm. Norbury blue was our first creation inspired by a Minton wall plaque of a blue dairy maid in the 16th century buttery based at the farm.
At the time no one was making cheese commercially in Surrey and in fact still aren’t!
Enter the Dirty Vicar
Dirty vicar came later in 2007 named jokingly after the local vicar who married rather quickly after the passing of his wife. All in good jest he is very proud to have a cheese named after him!
Moving forward we needed to expand our maturing space, so in 2016 we put our footprint on a disused barn at Sherborne farm, Albury (next door to Silent Pool gin).
New Premises at Silent Pool
We finally moved into our new premises in November 2018. We now have a retail outlet so can add value by selling direct to the customer.
Going forward we have plans to make a hard cheese cheddar type which will be called Dorking cock (after the famous Dorking cockerel). Then we will have a whole Surrey cheeseboard!
Supporting Local
We now buy our raw cows milk from Aldhurst farm in Capel who are now pasterising and selling to local farm shops. We pay the more than double what the dairy pay as this is our ethos to support the local dairy industry.
We are very happy in our new surroundings and pair up a lot with our neighbors Silent pool in many events which can be booked through their website.
So it seems they have moved their production to the Silent Pool Location near Albury and the herd of cows now to The Rother Valley or is it now Capel ? - I do not know if they are still connected to the farm at Norbury Park though .
For those intrigued about the story of the Norbury Blue Cheese , here is a small video - the only thing missing is the tastes and aromas !!
And after taking all of the above in - some beautiful and atmospheric music with some accompanying stunning photography -------------
Norbury Blue
Shot put together for SSC , 12/11/22 -- Blue .
Well not an out and out " Blue " capture , but the subject is called Blue - that is " Norbury Blue " cheese - it is an "Artisan" cheese whatever that is and me not being a fine diner or food expert has had to find out . This is a cheese that has been developed reasonable recently from Norbury Park Farm ( seen in the first comment box below ) which is just off of the A24 Leatherhead to Dorking road and sits at the edge of Norbury Park . Would you believe that long ago during my stint on the milk in between my surveying days and my days of dry cleaning , I delivered milk to the houses over in the right of the picture below .
Anyway , I have never tried Norbury Blue but luckily it is available to buy near to me , so a piece was purchased and used in the shot before I tasted any - a very fine blue cheese lovely and soft/creamy with quite a strong flavour .
I will let the makers tell their story from their web site and from the Surrey Hills website -----------
Started in 2001 Norbury Blue & Dirty Vicar soon became a cheese's noted locally for their distinct taste and flavour which is derived our family run closed herd of fresian cows whom have a rich and diverse diet, also which adds to the unique flavour is the fact that all the flavours are not cooked out with the commonly used pasteurisation process.
The closed herd of Fresian cows Graze on the lush meadow grasses at the foot of the South Downs by the Rother Valley. The cows roam freely Spring through to Autumn as of January 2018 are now being milked by robots, meaning that the cows are free to get milked when it suits them, producing a more relaxing atmosphere and ultimately happier cows!
The milk is collected from the farm and delivered to the cheese making dairy 45 minutes away where it is then pumped into a 900 litre vat and heated. The moulds are then loaded by hand and salted washed and transferred into the maturing room where they stay for around 4 weeks. When the test results are returned the cheese is ready to be marketed.
Norbury Park Farm Cheese Company Ltd is a small family run company and we pride ourselves in our handmade artisan product and our non commercial attitude towards our much loved cheese that cannot be found in any supermarket.
That's why you will always find Neil and Michaela put quality before profit.
We started making cheese in 2002 on the family dairy farm when milk prices were 18p a litre!
The idea was to add value to our milk and create a job for myself on the farm. Norbury blue was our first creation inspired by a Minton wall plaque of a blue dairy maid in the 16th century buttery based at the farm.
At the time no one was making cheese commercially in Surrey and in fact still aren’t!
Enter the Dirty Vicar
Dirty vicar came later in 2007 named jokingly after the local vicar who married rather quickly after the passing of his wife. All in good jest he is very proud to have a cheese named after him!
Moving forward we needed to expand our maturing space, so in 2016 we put our footprint on a disused barn at Sherborne farm, Albury (next door to Silent Pool gin).
New Premises at Silent Pool
We finally moved into our new premises in November 2018. We now have a retail outlet so can add value by selling direct to the customer.
Going forward we have plans to make a hard cheese cheddar type which will be called Dorking cock (after the famous Dorking cockerel). Then we will have a whole Surrey cheeseboard!
Supporting Local
We now buy our raw cows milk from Aldhurst farm in Capel who are now pasterising and selling to local farm shops. We pay the more than double what the dairy pay as this is our ethos to support the local dairy industry.
We are very happy in our new surroundings and pair up a lot with our neighbors Silent pool in many events which can be booked through their website.
So it seems they have moved their production to the Silent Pool Location near Albury and the herd of cows now to The Rother Valley or is it now Capel ? - I do not know if they are still connected to the farm at Norbury Park though .
For those intrigued about the story of the Norbury Blue Cheese , here is a small video - the only thing missing is the tastes and aromas !!
And after taking all of the above in - some beautiful and atmospheric music with some accompanying stunning photography -------------