After being named Cheesemonger of The Year by the World Cheese Awards, The Courtyard Dairy in Settle has now been selected as a finalist for the BBC Food and Farming Awards Best Food Retailer.

From thousands of nominations from around the UK, The Courtyard Dairy, along with Butchers Edge & Son (in The Wirral) and fishmongers Veasey (in East Sussex), was selected by a panel of judges to be shortlisted to the final three.

The Courtyard Dairy is owned by Andy and Kathy Swinscoe. Andy said: “We’re so happy to get through to the final three, and it is thanks to all the people who have supported us and helped The Courtyard Dairy champion great and real farmhouse cheese over these last 15-months.”

Since opening in December 2012, the business has quickly built a reputation, supplying direct to the public through the shop and online, as well as to top-class restaurants throughout the north of England.

Andy and Kathy work exclusively with small farmhouse cheese makers, the smallest with a herd of just 40 cows, that make cheese in a traditional manner, often using unpasteurised milk.