Quenby Hall, built in 1627, is one of only six officially recognised Stilton Dairies in England. Production restarted in 2005 after a gap of over 150 years.

The Jacobean house was built by George Ashby in the 1620’s. The original dairy building pre-dates the main hall, where a precursor to Stilton was made in a sixteenth century Saxon settlement. The Ashby’s were a self supporting family brewing ale and making cheese for their own consumption.

In the late seventeenth century cheese production increased because of the introduction of park enclosures to control the grazing of cows producing higher milk production. Evidence of this enclosure as the Ha-Ha can still be seen surrounding Quenby Hall. At this time a drum shaped cheese called Lady Beaumont’s Cheese was being made by the then housekeeper Elizabeth Scarborough which became well known and sold in local markets.

Quenby cheeses were produced in large quantities in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries before the estate fell into disrepair and production stopped around 1720. At this time Elizabeth Scarborough married one of the Orton family of Little Dalby and continued to make the cheese which developed due to public demand into a recognisable Stilton cheese. At this time the daughter of the Housekeeper married an Inn Keeper at an Inn on the Great North Road in Stilton where she sold the cheese. The inns were a stopping point for travelers and soon the cheese became synonymous with the name Stilton.

In 1759 the estate was sold by Warring Ashby to his cousin Shuckburgh Ashby who restored the hall and outbuildings. He bought up his family and ran a farming estate, helping to raise the standard of living for local Hungarton villagers in the process. At this time cheese was a valuable commodity and Shuckburgh Ashby fitted out the dairy into what has become widely accepted as one of the earliest purpose built farming/factory dairies, producing the cheese that eventually became Stilton.

In the August of 2005, after much research and planning Quenby Hall restarted Stilton production in a new dairy in the grounds next to the hall, under the direction of the owner Freddie de Lisle. In recent years Quenby Hall Blue Stilton has won many awards for its smooth, creamy texture and complex flavour.

Old traditional farming cycles have been re-established with the dairy buying milk from local herds, passing on its whey to local pig farmers who in turn supply Melton Mowbray pie makers.

Quenby Hall Blue Stilton now has a growing local and national market, available from national supermarkets, specialist retailers, restaurants and direct online. Quenby Stilton is also exported to Europe and the world, recently to the United States.