The Stewart family have farmed at Falside for over 50 years, and the dairy has always been central to the business.

In more recent times, however, the price that farmers have received for their milk has sunk to such a level as to be almost unsustainable, and so we started to look at ways of adding value to our product.

For us, right from the start, cheese seemed an obvious option. There was nobody else in Fife making cheese from their own milk on the farm; there seemed to be public demand for, and interest in, locally produced food; and last, but not least, we love cheese – and you are much more likely to succeed if you have a passion for what you do!

A short cheese-making Course at Reading University was followed by a fact-finding trip to Wales and the South-West of England (where many of Britain’s artisan farmhouse cheeses are made). During this trip, the opportunity to make cheese with Leon Downey (a true perfectionist, who had made fantastic, award-winning cheese in Wales for 30 years) dispelled any remaining lingering doubts, and back home in Fife, the Project began.

By late 2007 we had a wonderful new building to house our Cheese Dairy, complete with Viewing Gallery and Coffee Shop.

In January 2008, our first cheese was born, and production has since continued three days each week, (Currently - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Jane is ably assisted by Christina Pate – a dairy farmer’s daughter from Iowa, USA – who shares the passion. The first cheeses were ready to sample from 8 weeks old, and it was both exciting and immensely satisfying to taste, at last, our own ‘Anster’ cheese.

Although our cheese is available through an increasing number of local delicatessans, farm shops and restaurants, you can come to see it being made, here on the farm – a true ‘try before you buy’ experience!

We hope that as well as visiting us for ‘the cheese experience’, you will take time to linger in our Coffee Shop. We give the same care and attention to our home-baking and freshly prepared meals and snacks as we do to our cheese – so you can relax with a bowl of soup and an ‘Anster’ cheese scone, whilst enjoying the fantastic views down towards Anstruther and the sea.