Lancaster House is delighted to be adding another Lancashire cheese to our cheese larder. Our free Range Creamy Lancashire is produced by Chris and Steph Stephenson, who already supply our free range milk. In conversation we discovered that this new tasty cheese also shares a Sandeman connection with Lancaster House.
Chris and Steph Stephenson on the farm
Lancaster House are proud to be supporting our local farmers and producers. Our milk comes from Stephenson’s Dairy, just a few miles down the road. Chris and Steph Stephenson, pioneers in the dairy industry, were the first in the UK to introduce Free Range Milk. This means that the cows are grazed outside for at least half the year, guaranteed by the farmers with a fully traceable Pasture Promise. The benefits of this are not confined simply to the nutritious fodder from the North West’s rich pasture land, but it also enables the cows’ freedom to roam, to forage and to fulfil their social nature alongside their fellow herd members. Happy, healthy cows produce higher quality milk.
It is also healthier for us. Increasing evidence shows that cows fed on grass produce milk with less saturated fat and more healthy Omega-3 fat. Add to that the fact that local farmers are paid a higher price for their milk to ensure they run a sustainable business, and there’s lots to feel good about!
Stephensons Free Range Creamy Lancashire has a light, slightly acidic flavour, perfect with a good chutney, a slice of fruit cake or crumbled in a salad. Some have dubbed Creamy Lancashire as the British alternative to Feta.
Lancaster House has had a connection with Sandeman Port since before we opened our doors in 1991. In Summer 1989 our Operations Director, Douglas Dale, was on a flight to Jerez in Spain and got chatting to the gentleman sitting next to him. He discovered that his fellow passenger was David Sandeman, 8th generation Chairman and Managing Director of Sandeman Port and Sherry. Douglas was further intrigued to learn of the branch of the Sandeman family that lived almost on the doorstep of Lancaster House, at that time existing only on an architect’s drawing board. Thus, a friendship spanning over 25 years with the Sandeman family began.
When Lancaster House was completed in 1991, given the proximity of a branch of the Sandeman family and with the blessing of David Sandeman, our Sandeman Bar was created featuring artefacts from the 200 year House of Sandeman production history as well as a selection of the vintage port.
The Sandeman connection now stretches to the Creamy Lancashire Cheese – the milk from the cheese coming from cows on Sellerley Farm, previously part of the Sandeman estate and now owned by the Newsham family. The cows producing the milk for the cheese literally gaze and graze in fields next to the hotel.
Why not call 01524 844 822 to book a table at Lancaster House and taste for yourself the world-renowned Lancashire cheeses available.