About us

Lynher Dairies, owned by Catherine Mead OBE DL, is situated on the outskirts of Ponsanooth in mid Cornwall, where we make, by hand, all four of our award winning cheeses. We are the only producers of Cornish Yarg, Wild Garlic Yarg, Cornish Kern and Stithians. We’ve been wrapping our Cornish Yarg in nettle leaves since the 1980s. Our Wild Garlic Yarg and Stithians followed, with our newest cheese, Cornish Kern, winning Supreme Champion at the World Cheese Awards in 2017.

Yarg got its name from a moment of inspiration. Bodmin Moor farmer, Alan Gray, first produced Yarg in the 1980s after finding a 17th century recipe for nettle wrapped cheese in his attic. Spell Gray backwards and you have the answer as to how Yarg was named.

Kern  means ’round’ in Cornish and also happens to be the first four letters of Kernow, Cornish for Cornwall. When choosing its name, we knew we wanted it to have four letters and for it to have the same strong sound that Yarg does, so we have much to thank the Cornish language for.

We belong to Cornwall Food and Drink, Dairy UK and sponsor the UK Cheese Guild and the Academy of Cheese. Dairy owner Catherine Mead OBE DL was chair of the Specialist Cheese Association for a number of years and sits on various boards including The Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association and the CLA. Lynher Dairies also supports the Cornwall Community Foundation and other local charities.

Find us in delis, farm shops and supermarkets throughout the UK too. Email us at sales@lynherdairies.co.uk if you need help finding a stockist. We export to the USA and Australia through Neal’s Yard Dairy.