Settle’s got a smelly future - maybe you’ve already noticed the smell if you’ve driven along the A65 recently. In The Courtyard, just outside Settle, North Yorkshire, a cheese expert is setting up and settling down (don’t worry that’s the last of the cheesy puns!)

Andy Swinscoe originates from Cumbria but at an early age embarked on his quest to find the finest cheese available (after working for restaurants in England and France he discovered a passion for cheese whilst working at the Michelin-starred Balmoral Hotel restaurant in Edinburgh).

Obtaining a first-class honours degree from Sheffield Hallam University in ‘Culinary Arts and Hospitality’ he worked briefly for Paxton and Whitfield’s – Britain’s oldest cheesemonger, hand-delivering cheese, even to Buckingham Palace itself. It led to an award from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, which enabled Andy to indulge his passion for cheese and complete an apprenticeship in the complicated art of affinage (ageing cheese) in France with Hervé Mons, widely regarded as the best affineur in the world.

Returning to England to work for The Fine Cheese Co., he took up responsibility for cheese quality and for personally selecting cheese from the farm: “One moment I was off selecting Gruyère in Switzerland the next I was helping to open a cheese shop in Qatar!” This enabled him to meet and make cheese with many of the finest cheese-makers, from the buttery and lactic Kirkham’s Lancashire to the voluptuous Vacherin Mont d’Or.

But he always wanted to return back North to set-up his own specialist cheese shop: “I want to get people to taste and enjoy the best cheeses and charcuterie available in Europe,” says Andy. The cheeses he stocks include a range of goats’, cows’ and sheep’s milk: from soft and supple to stinky and spicy - there is something to suit every taste.

Consequently Andy’s cheese shop, The Courtyard Dairy, is on its way to becoming a real destination shop for the best in fine farmhouse cheese. The cheeses he sells are not widely available and are often only found in their town of production or in top restaurants: “They’re so good that the locals just want to hold onto them; that’s why I often have to go there to get them myself!”, he states proudly.

Unique delights include Dale End Cheddar (an unpasteurised cows’ milk Cheddar – made in small quantities on a tiny farm in the North Yorkshire Moors), the light and fresh goats’ cheese Cathare from Toulouse, and the strong and spicy Lanark Blue – Scotland’s answer to Roquefort.

Alongside this there will be the finest Italian charcuterie which the 8th-generation of the Falorni family have perfected, using only the finest quality pork of the ancient Cinta Sense breed. They hand chop all their salamis and prosciutto, for smoother texture, and fresh herbs and sea salt are rubbed in by hand.

Andy mentioned that he "could not have achieved this without his course at Sheffield Hallam and in particular the entrepreneurship module."

So next time you’re driving up the A65 past Settle, open the window and enjoy the scents emanating from The Courtyard Dairy…