Monkland Cheese Dairy — Restaurant in England

Found this place on the way back from Wales and called in for a ploughmans and a drink. Place looked very quaint, easy parking etc. All seemed good. Great range of cheese on display. Ordered two ploughmans - one to be "without blue cheese", a tea and a coffee. Tea was ok, coffee was rather weak but drinkable. The ploughmans, at £8.20 each, were disappointing...a few slices of apple, a couple of grapes and walnuts, celery, bread roll and some cheese. The Cheese was aged Hereford...with distinct signs of blue mould at the edges...not a problem for me, but my wife doesn't eat any blue cheese - hence the request at the time of order When I challenged the owner he assured us that it wasn't mould, just signs of aging...my wife said "I can't eat that". The response was a shrug of the shoulders and he walked away. How much effort would it have been to provide a different cheese? As we were leaving, there was not even a thanks or sorry - not a word. Overall, surly and slow service, at a very high price. Will not...

Interesting little tour, but worth checking if they are actually producing cheese on that day... We didn't and just had a talk through rather than a demonstration.

The cheese they make is beautiful, and has prices to make your eyes water. So it's easy to spend a lot, but they do cut just what you want of most blocks, so you can get as much or as little as you want on many varieties.

They often have some samples out, so you can try before you buy, which is a nice touch you don't find in many places.

The shop and cafe serves a decent cup of tea and cakes, there's a variety of things available from jams & chutney's to gins and vodka along with crisps and crackers. None of which are very cheap, but I can attest to the butter toffee shortbread cookies...

Great cheese, informative and friendly tour but large groups would struggle. This is a very local outfit to where we were staying so it was good to support them. The venue is quite small so you'll need to be patient and wait for peak traffic to die down. Apart from the cheese there is a good selection of locally produced chutneys, jams, preserves, liquors, ciders and even a brandy and a couple of types of gin available. Everything a growing boy needs.

I'm not sure how well you'd fare with a wheelchair with it being so small and having a gravel car park, so it would be prudent to call ahead or use the contact page on the website to speak to them about what is...