I had always been fascinated in the wonderful process of cheese making. I have worked in the family hair salon in Belper for many years and this all started back in 2014, when a regular customer, Joyce from Hazelwood, was in having a perm when we goat talking (got*)… It turned out that she had a goat and although she didn’t keep the goat for much longer after that (due to it’s penchant for getting into the house and eating money!!), she used to buy in cows milk to make cheese. After her perm, Joyce offered an open invite for me to go and help her makes some goats cheese – I was delighted !

It was a busy time but I did get over to Joyces a couple of times, although not long after, my life was somewhat turned upside down when I received a diagnosis of breast cancer. I started the gruelling journey of cancer treatment with surgery and chemo and whilst off sick, when my energy picked up, I spent more time helping Joyce, learning the art of cheese making; Derby cheese in particular; Joyce was a wonderful lady, she really was.

I started to really think about what I wanted to spend my spare time doing and one day announced to Tony that I wanted to buy some sheep… Tony responded with a straight forward ‘No’ .….although he quickly softened and the ‘No’ turned into ‘No, but you could get some goats’!!

So I took him up on that and we bought our first 3 goats; Lenny (4yrs), who was the mother of Lottie (2yrs), who was the mother of Lockie (3months old) – the latter of whom died just before Christmas 2024. These three were rather naughty, constantly escaping, kicking the milk buckets, really very cheeky – we milked them by hand and made our first goats cheese – so satisfying.

We started to feel at ease caring for these three goats and decided to expand the herd. Having become aware of a chap in Hull who was selling some goats, we bought another 10 goats all in kid.….Betsy was one of them, and remains one of our most special goats at Handley Farm (if we are allowed to have favourites!!).

We knew a local couple; Michael and Rachel who had goats and they were experts really; they were incredibly kind, in teaching us ways of goats, helping with kidding and just really providing advice and support as we embarked upon this steep learning curve. Then, and I firmly believe that this was meant to be, we had Nolwenn visit us 8 years ago now, as a “work away” from France; Nolwenn had completed a horticulture course at Uni and so knew a lot, but she absolutely embraced our new goat herd and we tackled the learning curve together.

After feeling the vibes of the Grumpy Farmer and getting to know the herd, Nolwenn put her artistic talent towards a memorable image for the goats cheese business – that you can still find on the labels for cheese and Handley Farm honey today. There were some sad times as there was inevitably moderate learning by mistakes, but we made sure that we learnt. We were also both new to cheese making and at first made mainly soft cheese, trying out a bit of hard goats cheese also. We won awards; Bronze, silver and then gold in the Melton Mowbray awards – incredibly proud moments and then to our absolute delight, we won Bronze in the World Cheese Awards!!!

The more folk who tried our goats cheese both at market and in The Bull shed, the more we were asked “So do you have goats? – Would it be possible to see them?!”. I just enjoy so much the pleasure that our goats bring to people who pop and see them; we had another “work away’ staying with us in 2022-23 and he suggested that we consider formalising the opportunity for folk to come and spend time with our goats, hence starting the goat experiences. I am a firm believer in the value of providing a relaxing environment in which to enjoy being amongst the herd, to spend time with them and it turns out that our visitors value that too.

So that’s where we are at now – we start 2025 with lots of goat experiences booked, including some followed by afternoon tea, one party for a lady’s 50′ celebrations and one party for a 6yr old girl…we cant wait! And if you want to come to the farm and share all your love with the goats and even with our two black piggies, don’t hesitate just click here !

And as for our goats cheese, during the winter months our herd produce so much less milk and so in response to popular requests from customers at market, we have been producing a combination of our soft goats cheese, and goats ricotta for cooking. I have a stall at market every Tuesday in Wirksworth and then every First Saturday for Wirksworth Farmers Market and every Second Saturday for Belper market – I love the markets. The community and visitors are wonderfully loyal to the market, as are the market stall owners to each other. Each visitor to the stall comes for so much more than cheese; we have a chat, we catch up, we exchange stories – it’s a real highlight of my week. 

As well as cheese, I also started bringing some british ancient grains and associated pulses and pastas from Hodmedodds to sel on the market stall several years ago, as I personally really believe in the benefits for our health, in cooking with these unprocessed grains. I enjoy finding interesting produce that are “Zero mileage produce” at the point of purchasing, by sourcing other british cheese hand-made on farms where the herd reside. I also seek out a few fantastic quality organic cheese from the continent… tried and tested of course – it excites me when I come across a cheese that tastes incredible, but that cant usually be found in your supermarket. And after last year’s bumper year for honey from our 15 hives at Handley Farm, we also have that on the stall. I have been told that I make a mean oatcake too and often Vicki (who keeps me company and joins me on the market every week) and I cook pancakes and oatcakes for those who go to market with space in their stomach!

The goats are such an integral part of my life and my family at Handley Farm, but also for many of the other regular and one-off visitors at the farm – they prove to be incredibly special animals time and time again and provide more than I had ever imagined they would 10 years ago.