CHEESEMONGER Andy Swinscoe is a man on a Yorkshire Day mission - to get his fellow Tykes to try some of the huge variety of the county's cheeses.

Andy, managing partner of Settle's Courtyard Dairy, says he wants to champion the 'farmhouse' cheese producers who are using more traditional methods to make Yorkshire's most distinctive tastes.

And these tastes have evolved over centuries, from 1066 and the Norman Conquest when Cistercian monks brought over their cheese-making expertise - then mostly from sheep's milk - to the Dales. This expertise was gradually picked up by farmers - especially after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536 - who evolved over centuries the taste-bud tittilating varieties we have today.

Andy says: "With time these cheeses would change; farms shifted to cows’ milk and advances in cheesemaking coupled with a desire to make consistent, recognisable cheeses, meant the Dales cheeses became firmer, drier and sharper– like the crumbly white Wensleydale we know today.

"This move towards a consistent, white-crumbly cheese, was twinned with less and less farmhouse cheesemaking in Yorkshire (the last farmhouse producer of Wensleydale gave up in 1957). Without the flat rolling plains of the south-west that are perfect for grazing cows many Yorkshire farmers turned to sheep and beef cattle farming, which don’t involve having to get you animals back to a parlour to be milked twice a day.

"“At The Courtyard Dairy our ethos is to support cheesemakers still making to traditional methods on their own farm with their own herd of animals, which reduces the number of cheese makers we work with in Yorkshire quite dramatically (as many are big creamery based, and there are relatively few farmhouse cheeses). Yet of these few can still be found – and in Yorkshire they are making brilliant cheeses - like those at Botton Camphill Community.

"Encouragingly, I have also spoken with a few small farmers in recent years in Yorkshire who are looking at returning to farmhouse cheesemaking (many of them also have the Northern Dairy Shorthorn cow which produces a lovely rich milk – perfect for cheese!)"

And here's Andy's guide to some of those who he thinks are among the county's best cheese producers:

Botton: a buttery Yorkshire Gouda, the tangy-Dale End Cheddar and Moorland Tomme.

Barncliffe Brie: a recent creation of a creamy gentle brie-style (also known as Yorkshire Brie).

Cotherstone: A true Dales cheese – how it used to be made.

Fortmayne Dairy: Its cloth-bound Wensleydale is moist and light.

Laceys Cheese. Based in the old Station at Richmond, Simon Lacey makes a range of hard cheeses and you can go see him work!

Lowna Dairy. Make a range of goats’ milk cheeses – soft, blue and hard using their own milk in East Yorkshire (near Hull)

Pextenement Cheese Co: Based at Todmorden, a traditional cheddar and soft creamy Coulommier style.

Shepherd’s Purse: Produce a wide range, from Yorkshire Blue to Fine Fettle (a Feta style).