A SECOND brand new cheese is set to make its making at this year’s Yorkshire Dales Cheese Festival which kicks off on Saturday.

Festival-goers will be able to try Baa-Bon, a new hard cheese that has been produced by The Churchmouse at Barbon delicatessen in conjunction with Ribblesdale Cheese in Hawes.

It is made using ewes’ milk supplied by local sheep farmer and farm shop owner James Hadwin.

The Churchmouse near Kirkby Lonsdale will be one of more than 20 venues holding cheesy events throughout the week-long festival which goes on until September 23.

It will also see the launch of Stonebeck, a traditional Wensleydale-style cheese produced by a farming family in Nidderdale using milk from the critically-endangered breed the Northern Dairy Shorthorn.

Helen Dalton, destination co-ordinator for the Yorkshire Dales National Park said: “The launch of both these cheeses underlines a key element of the Festival, namely the way that farmers, cheesemongers and dairies are working together to produce innovative products that are a taste of the Dales and which draw on the growing visitor interest for seeking out local, artisan food.”

For full details of the Festival programme visit yorkshiredales.org.uk/cheese-festival.