Wensleydale Creamery in Richmondshire

I love cheese so Ideal place to visit Tim the guide was informative and entertaining Husband and dog had to wait outside but then went for lunch. Very nice if a little windy outside

Lovely gift shop with a wide range of gifts and goodies. The cheese shop has free tasting, plus all things cheese-related. There is a viewing room where you can watch it being made. Now I am not actually a cheese lover 😲, but had a lovely mooch round and would definitely recommend a visit.

Charged for entry, but was not advised that there was no cheese making, no any demonstration for an hour. Disappointed

We had tea and cheese scones with Yorkshire butter. They were delicious. Would recommend.

A wonderful selection of cheese and items to please and delight everyone.

Absolutely amazing can't praise it enough. Thank you will keep returning.

Excellent food and delicious cheese

Fabulous selection of cheeses, which you can taste before you buy

What a fantastic trip! Tim gave a great demonstration of the history and process of Wensleydale cheese. Followed by a view of the factory and all the cheese tasting you could possibly want. Staff are lovely and the whole experience is amazing value for money. Don't forget seeing Wallace and Gromit!! Will definitely be returning the next time I'm passing by.

Great place to visit with family. Very informative especially the talk, you can sample cheese and chutney. Staff are friendly and they have a good gift shop and cafe on site.

Very interesting demonstration of how cheese is made. Great cheese room and gift shop to taste and buy cheese. Food in the restaurant was nice. Recommend for an afternoon out.

Excellent! ....Very interesting story of cheese making on the site and demonstration by friendly staff...oh, and not to forget Wallace and Grommit!....what more could you want, and all set in beautiful countryside! There is a cafe on site... Hawes is lovely place to visit and just down the road with some nice places to have a drink and something to eat.

Brilliant demonstration very informative and visual which helps a lot for some people. Really enjoyed the cheese tasting and found a new favourite cheese 🧀 Wensleydale with pineapple 🍍 😋 be warned you may spend too much in the cheese shop 😍 we did !

Great scones and butter, not to mention the cheese (Grommit)!

Called in on a cold January Saturday For lunch Met with a very warm greeting Served with excellent roast beef and seasonal vegetables in a giant Yorkshire pudding Followed by mixed berry Eton Mess £15:00 for two courses Great value Excellent staff A great experience on a very cold winter day

The food is served very slowly, but the portions are large and there is a lot of cheese

We wanted to say thank you to all the staff, whom we met 2 weeks ago, during a much-needed stay in beautiful Yorkshire. In particular, the gentleman who performed the cheese-making demonstration, the staff who smiled and waved at us through the window of the factory, and the polite and attentive ladies in the cafe, serving delicious food. We have visited nearby Sedbergh quite a few times now, and it was such a pleasure to finally make time to come and visit Hawes, and see the wonderful Wensleydale creamery. We look forward to returning for more delicious food and drink supplies.

Nice cafe, pleasant staff, good food. The gift shop has some nice niche items, and of course, the cheese shop is brill - especially with the samples to taste.....!

Called on the way back from Leyburn for something to eat. Chose Calverts restaurant instead of the cafe. Lovely view from the window over the hills even though it was torrential rain. I had 3 cheese quiche and other half had Rarebit topped with bacon and caramelised onions both meal’s really tasty and nicely presented only £30 with a cappuccino and a sparkling water. All staff really friendly and will definitely return.

Well worth a visit, very informative.

Cafe was nice and had a great Latte, along with a Pork Pie and Wensleydale Cheese. Bought a load of Cheese from the Creamery for Christmas Day Dinner.

We were pleased to find the café open. Everywhere else nearby was shut or had stopped serving The service was excellent. However, the Welsh rarebit, usually a favourite, was disappointing. The bread it was served upon was soggy, and the cheese - which should have been piquant - was rather insipid. It was, though, 3 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon before Christmas, so perhaps I should cut them some slack.

Brilliant place been often. We went for our Christmas cheese's. & also had a yummy Christmas lunch which was delicious.

Went on our annual trip to buy cheese which was a great experience, unfortunately not great in the cafe! Not much on offer decided on the soup which was cauliflower and cheese it didn’t taste too good! I started feeling sick on our way home and the soup kept repeating on me I eventually vomited so not too happy 🤢

Great place, great food, great staff and stunning views. 😍

Very interesting and well presented explanation of how the cheese is made and it's history. Had the best ever cheese scone in the cafe! Definitely worth a visit, and I don't even like to eat raw cheese...

It's a really nice place in the Yorkshire dales with an awesome cheese factory that produces some really exceptional cheeses...

Very nice and interesting place to visit xx

Great selection of food, pleasant clean surroundings, good service.

I’ve been coming here for 5 years, always brining new people who have come to visit. Never have I been treated so badly here - I think her name was Pamila and she literally refused to sell me two tickets because there wasn’t a demonstration even through I explained to her that I wanted to enter the museum. This was so awkward, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed tickets. In the end, I instructed her to sell me two tickets otherwise I’d go to the cafe/shop area and report her. After we got the tickets and proceeded through I heard her turn away other people. Never have I been here and been refused entry because there was no demonstration. Very disappointed with my last visit, however, the museums upgrades look great and it’s wonderful that they have the tasting back. I will still take my visitors to this place but I had to write about my experience last week.

Good visit....good general gift shop....excellent Cheese Store...good Coffee Shop...good Coffee and Food

Amazing place. Have been going there occasionally for the past many, many years. Long, scenic drive to Hawes, via the Yorkshire Dales national Park & the Ribblehead Viaduct, even if takes 90+ minutes from where we live. The visit to the part of the creamery to see actual cheesemaking is not very special but OK as a one-off, even if slightly expensive to get in. The cheese sampling is free, and includes a wide variety of their cheeses, both sweet & savoury. You can buy any of them you want, as well as an extensive range of cheese accoutrements. There is an excellent cafe and even an outdoor seating area. The Creamery gift shop also sells a huge range of items, creamy ice creams, cheese-related crockery & cutlery, postcards, etc., etc.

Visited yesterday for the 1st time with some people we support, our guys loved watching how the cheese was made, loved been able to taste all the wonderful samples. I would like to thank the staff for being so understanding and friendly 😊

Nice cafe, excellent cheeses. Very busy today

Great place to visit when it’s raining. We did the experience tour, where we learn about cheese making. It was really interesting. Then visited a small museum where you learn facts about cheese. It’s really great for kids also the way they have done it. Followed by cheese tasting ( the best part). You can then go back to the shop which is quite big. And a dedicated area for cheese to taste and buy. They a cafe and toilets. They have free car park on-site. I will recommend as a day out. Only disappointment was when going to pay my shopping the cashier was not so friendly it felt rushed like she wanted to get rid of us, not nice customer service when you spend money local.

We came here as a family for lunch. Quite disappointed with the selection on offer. Sausage roll was only available cold which seems bizarre in a cafe. We also had ploughmans. Generous portions of cheese but served with very dry basic bread. To be honest we could have had better from a supermarket. Seems such a shame as it would be a great opportunity to show off the cheese if they offered some interesting fresh bread with it. We had visited a couple of years ago and had a good experience having a delicious cheeseboard with crackers. We felt quite let down. Creamery visit was great, lots of good samples of cheese and a demo of cheese making which i do recommend but avoid the cafe as it is not great at the moment sadly.

A good fun display of cheese making and tour of the factory/museum. Good food and extremely fast service. Loads of things to buy in the gift shop, staff are brilliant

What has happened to the lovely cafe that was last year? We have always enjoyed lunch in the cafe where there has been a lovely menu and helpful and friendly staff. This year the choice was limited to either a sandwich or roll all of which were cheese based as that was all that was remaining. Asked for a Mocha and extra hot Cappachino - Mocha was steaming however the Cappachino was warm not even hot let alone extra hot. When I politely asked for the cappachino to be warmed up, I certainly wasn't expecting the abrupt response I received. First came the excuse that the machine regulates the temperature. When I explained that it was cooler than the Mocha, the assistant felt the cup and then said it was hot enough for her! As we had been to the Creamery the previous week, I knew that it was possible to make a hotter drink. The assistant certainly didn't appreciate my response as she then proceeded to talk over me quite loudly. If all of that wasn't embarrassing enough, she then apologised to the next customer for the delay as "she needed to deal with this complaint". I have never felt so humiliated as she made me feel. Even the other customers advised me to speak to someone about the treatment I received but being on holiday, I decided not to. I did get the coffee and it was hotter and the milk wasn't burnt like the excuse I was given. There are far better cafes in Hawes with more selection and way better service.

My favourite place in the UK. The most delicious menu I've ever experienced, with the most wonderful take-home items and the friendliest staff. I visit once a year and always leave smiling, no matter the weather. ❤️

Great place to visit, for the cheese, the café/restaurant and the shop in a fantastic location. The scones are especially good!

Experience - £5.95; demonstration making cheese, view in the factory, cheese tasting, very lovely staff. Cafe and restaurant and shop and cheese shop are free to enter if you prefer not to see demo, about 5 demonstrations a day. Just the cheese demo / factory has entrance fee, loads of parking, close to village of Hawes (could walk it) recommend, take your wallet, spend a fortune in shop! Couple of hours.

Very poor sandwich. Bread dry and no butter. Slab of dry Wensleydale cheese, not enough carrot chutney and limp old lettuce. Very poor.

Great place with a great gift shop, coffee shop and restaurant. A good look around the cheese room is great. You can sample the numerous cheeses, but for reasons of hygiene, cocktail sticks at each cheese sample dish are there to use. Simple common sense you would have thought? alas no! One person behind us insisted on shoving her fingers all over the sample cheeses. She was told by the staff to use the cocktail sticks. What does she do? uses the same stick on all the cheeses ! I do feel sorry for the staff. They must pull there hair out. Had a really nice meal in the restaurant, the cost of which was very reasonable. Staff again were excellent and very attentive. Great place to visit. Does get very busy at peak times though. A real gem of a place, well run and good value for money.

We loved the cheese sampling and the wide array of selections. Very nice stop along the way. We would recommend it.

Mostly a shop and café, the tours have never been running when I have visited. The café is great and this is the first place I ever tried Cheese and Fruitcake, I'm now addicted :-). Plenty of cheese tasting in the, separate chasse area and it's worth going home with a big slab of wensleydale, Pick up some of the fruit cake as well.

Absolutely brilliant. Staff very professional friendly abs knowledgeable.

The cheese experience is perfect. Cheese tasting before you buy and cheese with everything in the restate. If you love cheese you won’t go gar wrong

Not a place to drop in for lunch.

Got to love a bit of Wensleydale cheese. ❤️❤️❤️

Wonderful sausage and bacon baps in the restaurant. Top quality ingredients at a very reasonable price.

Lovely thank you but you have to like cheese

Excellent cheese! A must visit spot to pickup provisions for a mid-hike refueling stop.

Bit disappointed we thought there would be more to see other than looking through a glass window the demonstration was good but we thought there would be more to see.

Cafe, restaurant, gift shop, sample all the cheeses before making your selection. Free parking. Wallace and Grommit gift ideas. Demonstrations of the cheese making process. Recommended if you are in the area.

Fantastic place for cheese lovers. Highly recommended. Glad I had cooler bags to load up!

Was looking forward to a meal in the restaurant, my husband had the special which was ploughman's & cheesecake & a pot of tea ......., 3 pieces of cheese, half pork pie , bit of salad & chutney & bread. I had the steak pie which was OK & that's all, the rest of the meal was covered in a gloopy over seasoned fake tasting gravy which I couldn't eat, it was awful & nothing like past experience! When I mentioned that most places serve gravy in a jug I was met with a shrug & " that's how chef serves it"

Definitely worth a visit especially if the weather isn’t allowing much walking! Very interesting to see cheese being made live within the factory and at a live demo (check times on the website). Lots of free samples of Wensleydale and cheddar. Exhibition itself could be more polished perhaps but a steal for £6 entry. Nice cafe and restaurant but expect to queue.

Stopped here for the lunch more than the creamery. Food was generously proportioned and prices accordingly. Gift shop plenty to choose from and the same for the cheese shop which has small tester pieces to try before buying.

Brilliant, loved it. Great cheeses, gift shop, cafe, demo and tour. Recommend.

Fascinating place to visit, well worth paying the extra to learn the history of the factory, it’s incredible staff and sit in and learn about how the cheese is made with a demonstration to boot. The viewing windows allow you to watch the process on the factory floor and the tasting area, well just make sure you eat before attending! The shop is fabulous and full of all sorts of gifts, drinks and the two cafes on site as well as the ice cream counter mean that everything is catered for. There are good, clean and accessible toilets and plenty of parking. Also lovely benches outside should you need a picnic place. Child friendly and a wonderful place to visit.

Enjoyed a fun and informative morning at the Wensleydale factory. The tour was interesting and enjoyable for us even without children in tow. Also Enjoyed some beautiful scones in the cafe. Parking is free 👍 If I have a negative it would be the price of the cheese etc. In the shop. So expensive, far cheaper in the supermarket Worth avisit then walk down into the pretty town of Hawes

The cheese shop stocked a wide range of cheeses which you could sample. Prices were reasonable. To watch a demonstration for 30 mins was £5.95 per adult and children were free for the August holiday period. The demo was performed very well. Good insight into how cheese is made and the history of the local area. We could walk along an exhibition area, sample more cheeses and see the factory. Well organised, extremely friendly and very good value. Would definitely recommend this as a trip when in the Yorkshire dales.

Fantastic demo really knowledgeable guy then on to tasting table and then a peek at the factory.. worth a visit . Cafe on site dog friendly in the garden

Very good free selection of cheeses to try. Gift shop prices are very high

Was there on business but had the opportunity to visit the cheese shop. Great selection of cheeses for tasting. Easy parking with dedicated disabled bays. Indoor a d outdoor eating areas

Lovely little stop if your in our around Hawes. Visitor tours are around £6 got an adult and good value. There are also cafes and a shop if you don't want to do the experience

Our 1st visit was Sep 2020 and that included a visit to the Calvert restaurant, today - Aug 2023 was our 3rd and the restaurant has reopened after some changes. Booking then was and still is absolutely essential as people were turning up and had to be put on a reserve list or turned away. Entrance is through the shop. Our first visit, we opted for the specials board although it was a tough choice all-round. Starters, mains and deserts are comparable to city restaurants and although this Sunday visit was very busy, staff were excellent dispite being run off their feet. Burgers, pies and reabit are other good menu choices. Sunday lunches are excellent and a good portion size. There's a good choice of wines and beers but these are now bottles only - there is now lager, and all at very reasonable prices. Children are welcome and have colouring books etc. Can't get in? Try the cafe, lots of seating. Don't let the queue put you off, oh and don't get in the wrong queue for cheese tasting! If this review is of use, give a thumbs up... Tony and Suzy

Lovely place with different areas to explore such as the cheese being made, the shop where you try different tasters of all the wonderful Wensleydale cheeses plus other tasty types. The restaurant or cafe and the gift shop which is well stocked with beautiful homewares and gifts

if you like cheese its a must we popped in after going somewhere else and used the shop and restraunt all staff were super polite it was a bank holiday weekend super busy but staff seemed to still be on the ball we didnt have time for the cheese tou but are making plans to go back and spend half a day there and the rest in hawes

Fantastic little visitors centre. Really enjoyed the cheese making demonstration and the member of staff who delivered it was brilliant. Staff more than happy for you to sample all the cheeses at your will and the shop was very reasonably priced. Thoroughly enjoyed the visit and can absolutely recommend a trip.

We visited at Easter and absolutely loved the cafe so I returned with my mum this summer and our new dog. I couldn’t believe the difference. There is virtually no menu in the cafe, bog standard sandwich or sausage roll with a slice of Wensleydale in cling film and a very slow queue. Also claims to be dog friendly which actually means you have to sit outside which in our case meant we had to sit outside in 14c drizzle whilst my kids cried to be inside. Such a shame as we had lovely memories of visiting earlier in the year but the recent changes are a disaster.

Came here on a day excursion and spent an interesting two hours here. The visitor centre is only a short distance from the market square and has a large free car park. It's well signposted and all the buildings are wheelchair accessible. The staff were welcoming and friendly. Our visit to the Wensleydale Cheese Experience was pre-booked with a time slot. The man who did the cheesemaking demonstration was very knowledgeable, going through all the different stages of how cheese is hand crafted in the modern creamery. We then walked across to a little museum where we learned all about this place's fascinating history through artefacts and easy to read info boards, tasted a variety of Wensleydale cheeses and got to see inside the creamery itself from a viewing gallery. Lots of fun activities for kids and the opportunity to be photographed with Wallace and Gromit! The shop is a delight to browse around, full of beautiful homewares, pictures, stationery, books and much more. The cheese shop is also well worth visiting, not only for the cheese but also crackers, chutneys and a host of other foodie treats. Bought some cheese and a delicious Yorkshire fruit cake to take home. There's a restaurant and café which I didn't get time to visit, but I did treat myself to an ice-cream from the shop and ate it on a café terrace with a lovely view of the dales. All in all this was an enjoyable visit!

Cheese.... and sheep!! A winning combination....

Great day out plenty of different cheese to taste Also good car park

Fantastic place! We're both cheese lovers so this was basically a pilgrimage!! Spent more time than was necessary in the tasting room but also paid for the demonstration and tour! Lovely gift shop and cafe too. Highly recommended.

An excellent place to visit. The cheese making demo was great and informative, the shop was far too tempting!!! But best of all, the restaurant... wow!! Fantastic choice of food from light bites to full meals. We had the Ultimate Wensleydale Toastie, which was incredible. Everything really reasonable priced and also a lovely gift shop. Will visit again.

Excellent visitor centre, cheese shop and gift shop but the best bit was the cheese experience with demonstration and informative explanation by Martin. A fabulous afternoon out. We will be back to try out the cafe when weather is better so that we can sit outside with our dog!!

What a brilliant place to visit to get in depth knowledge about Wallace and Gromets favorite cheese. M

Excellent place to have lunch whilst exploring the Dales

Highly recommended by a friend and it didn't disappoint.well worth the journey and the blue cheese has converted me .

A great day out at the weekend, the kids went free and we had a 2 for 1 voucher on paying adults so a few hours out cost us less than £6. The demonstration was great and interactive. And the cheese tasting at the end was a great bonus. Great activities for kids along the wall, interactive and fun for all the family. A great gifts shop at the end with coffee shop, and restaurant. We tried out the restaurant and got some really delicious food. The cheesy quiche in particular was beautiful and full of flavour! Great service in the restaurant, kind and helpful staff serving. Will be returning when we return to the beautiful dales.

I was thoroughly impressed. Great place,wonderful cheese!

Nice to try some cheese as well as to see how cheese is made

Good experience would recommend.

Lovely place to visit vert interesting on how wensleydale is produced thanks to Graham

It s a well known company and also became a turistic place. Why Wensleydale do not offer concessions to the disable?

If you are a cheese fan this is the place to go. Delicious beef and cheese toastie, friendly staff, lovely surroundings. One of our party is not a cheese fan at all but was still easily catered for - there are a few choices on the menu with no cheese at all. Save room for the cheese tasting experience!! Brilliant trip.

Great shop & cafe a short walk from the high street.

Delicious selection of cheeses set in a beautiful location. Free parking on site, we made a mistake and paid for parking down the road. Save your money.

For someone who REALLY loves cheeses, this is a great place to visit for gifts and cheeses galore. There are merchants cutting the cheese in the tasting room, where you can savour bite sized chunks before buying your favourites

Everything is perfect: the welcome, the service, the cakes made by the mother (yum!) and the drinks including green tea and rooibos... 😃

2 stars. I must say the hour travel to try your cream was very good, I usually go down to the local street corner to rosh off the local slag but on this occasion I took the public transport to this creamery and it was very good. I went home and followed the steps from the tour and I must say my cream has never tasted so good, my husband has huge compliments as my cream no longer tastes of fish and doesn't remind him if our Sunday venture to the local fishy. But I did wonder if it was normal for a bunch of men to produce their own cream into the mix. Cheers

There to load. Very busy with public. Friendly service

Arrived just before closing and staff was very courteous. Bought lots of cheese that we can't get in the U.S.A.

Lots to see and do. Tasting different cheeses and watching a demonstration on how the cheeses are made found it very informative. Gift shop also has lots to offer along with the coffee shop and restaurant. Great value for money.

What's not to like? Cheese, gifts, cafe, restaurants, cheese making! It's brilliant!

Fun and interesting tour/talk. The host was absolutely fantastic! Excellent value for money at £7. Plenty of cheese to taste in the tasting room. Fruit cake & cheese is a revelation!

Always enjoy a visit here, and buy some very tasty cheese x

Very good day in the cheese factory 🏭

Oh my god, CHEESE it's flipping fantastic, cheese for every tastebud, I preferred the old style wensleydale myself, my daughter loves the cranberry 😀