Located in the market town of Hawes, the Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre offers numerous attractions themed around its Wensleydale cheese. Guests pay an admission fee and take self-guided tours, enjoying everything from an interactive journey through the cheese-making process to demonstrations, cheese tastings, and a cheese shop, gift store, coffee house, and restaurant.
The Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre is a popular inclusion on private or group Yorkshire Dales tours from places like Windermere, York, and Leeds—all hassle-free ways to experience it alongside the national park’s beauty spots and sights such as Bolton Castle and Aysgarth Falls. For the ultimate experience, opt for the personalized service, private transport, hotel pick-up and drop-off, and customizable itinerary that usually come with private tours.
The Wensleydale Creamery is in Hawes, 65 miles (105 kilometers) northwest of York. Public transport to the town is limited to buses, so the easiest travel options are tours that include round-trip transport or self-driving via the A684 from Kendal or the A1(M). The nearest train stations with convenient bus services to Hawes are Garsdale and Northallerton—the latter reachable via trains from York, Leeds, and Newcastle.
The Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre is open daily year-round, aside from on major public holidays. Weekends and holiday seasons, especially summer, can be very busy; to explore at its quietest, aim to visit outside peak season or in the early morning or late afternoon.
Cheese has been made in Wensleydale since the 1100s, when French Cistercian monks first introduced it to the area. The Wensleydale Creamery continues the tradition and is the valley’s only Wensleydale cheese maker. Visitors can learn about the craft on a journey through the Visitor Centre’s Cheese Experience, watch master cheese-makers at work, taste up to 20 varieties–such as Wensleydale with cranberries in the tasting room–and purchase their favorite versions at the cheese shop.