Shepherds Purse cheese: How Judy Bell's daughters are keeping up her legacy in Thirsk

Originally a chemist Judy, started making cheese from sheep milk as an alternative to cow’s milk when she became aware of people suffering dairy intolerance. Since then Shepherds Purse, still based on the farm near Thirsk where it all started, has grown its range to 11 cheeses, made from sheep milk, cow's milk, water buffalo milk and most recently organic cow’s milk from Acorn Dairy.

Judy sadly died from bowel cancer in 2022 but her daughters, who in 2012 had taken over the business she had groomed them to run all their lives, are committed to continuing to produce world-class cheeses, championing the best of British agriculture and the benefits of quality, local, sustainable and nourishing food.

"Mum is still here in every decision we make – she’s always on our shoulders,” says Caroline. “We do feel a huge sense of responsibility to do things the way she did them but also to move forward with the business. Of course we miss her terribly – and we do have difficult days but I know what mum would say –she’d tell us to get on with it although I think she would also want us to take care of ourselves – she was all about health and doing good.”

"We do have a saying in the office ‘channel Jude’ when things get tough or really busy,” adds Katie.

And they must be doing something right as they have just made history by winning two Category Gold awards at this year’s Virtual Cheese Awards for their Buffalo Blue and Yorkshire Blue cheese. It is the first British cheese producer to win two categories – Best Artisan Soft and Best Blue – at the awards since it launched in 2020.

"We are very different from each other,” says Katie. “Caroline is like mum in the fact that she is happy going out there, networking and promoting the business. I am much happier on the production side of things. But it seems to work.”

Shepherds Purse is no stranger to winning awards having won more than 400 including Harrogate Blue winning Super Gold at the World Cheese awards and eventually being placed 11th best cheese in the world, Mrs Bell’s Blue winning Reserve Supreme Champion at the International Cheese Awards and a much coveted 3 Star Great Taste Awards, and Yorkshire Blue winning Champion English Cheese at the International Cheese Awards. Awards, along with shows like the Great Yorkshire Show, have been an important part of Shepherds Purse journey. Indeed, it was their first gold medal at the International Cheese Awards in 1989 that Judy credited as being encouragement that she was on the right track. Last year at the Cheese & Dairy Show at The Great Yorkshire Show.

“It’s incredible to reflect on the journey we’ve been on as a family and a business over the past 35 years," says Katie.

"We’re grateful for all the support we’ve received from Yorkshire and beyond and we’re proud of what we’ve achieved and the impact we have had so far. Mum touched so many people and we have been overwhelmed by the messages not only from the cheese industry but the wider food industry and beyond. There have been a lot of challenges over the past few years, so as we look to the future, we will continue to innovate as we produce our world-class cheeses and as a countryside-based team, fly the flag for Yorkshire cheesemaking across the UK and the globe.” Covid saw their sales drop by half, although Katie says they were luckier than a lot of businesses as they had a strong online business and cheese seemed to be one of the things people seemed to stockpile. Whilst Shepherds Purse has grown substantially and sustainably over the past 35 years, being stocked in retailers, and served in restaurants, across the whole of the UK and beyond, its cheeses are still made traditionally, focusing on artisan techniques, by hand, each day on the family farm.

But Judy Bell was far more than just a cheesemaker. She went out of her way to help other family businesses and was a founding member of what was to become Delciouslyorkshire, which helps promote Yorkshire produce. "We heard from so many people after she died saying what an impact she’d had on them,” says Katie. “She dedicated her life to helping so many people across the Yorkshire Food and Business Community, giving her time, knowledge, and passion freely, expecting nothing in return other than the pleasure of seeing other businesses flourish. She was all about making a difference and giving something back and so since she died I have done a lot of charity work. After mum died I needed something to focus on and so I decided to run the London Marathon. When I Googled it the first charity that came up was for bowel cancer and so I filled in the application form never thinking I’d get in and I did. Training for the marathon and taking part really helped with the grieving process and knowing the reason I was doing it would help so many more people.” Katie raised more than £6,000 for Bowel Cancer UK. A team from Shepherds Purse did the Three Peaks, they have also held two charity balls, for cancer charities for Herriot Hospice in Thirsk who looked after Judy at home, raising more than £100,000.

The sisters really want to expands on their mum’s ethos that Shepherds Purse should be about health and wellness. “We want to keep and expand the connection between land and health which is why mum started Shepherds Purse in the first place - it was all about the benefits of sheep’s milk,” says Caroline. "We are looking at putting the BCORP framework around Shepherds Purse which is all about using business for good. Mum and I would talk for hours about the benefits and challenges of business and the BCORP is a standard looking at how a business can be a force for good for all stakeholders involved. We don’t exist on our own.” As well as the sisters, Judy had two sons Justin and Jonathan who sadly died. Her husband Nigel still lives on the farm with Caroline living in a barn conversion completed before Judy was diagnosed and Caroline living a stones throw away. “Before we lost Jonathan he and mum had been planting trees that day and so we have been taking conquers from those trees and cuttings from oaks and cultivating them and we give them away to people when they have lost someone. It shows the power of nature and the power of life. In the sadness of losing someone there is hope and that’s something that mum taught us and its something we’d like to develop,” says Caroline. Judy also loved her garden and could often be found tending her roses after going missing for hours. “She just loved creating and planting and gardening was part of that," says Katie.

The GYS has always had a special place not only in Judy’s heart but in her daughters. Caroline and the team have helped reinstate the Cheese and Dairy Show at the GYS.

“We want to make Shepherds Purse even healthier more profitable and bigger so that we can do more good and have more impact. We are obsessed with making world class cheese without compromise and doing what we say we do – which is what mum would want.”