The picturesque setting of Barrys Bay on Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula is home to Barrys Bay Cheese. Originally established as the Barrys Bay Co-op Dairy Factory in 1895, Barrys Bay Cheese continues the tradition of natural, handcrafted cheese making today. The clean, fertile pastures of the Peninsula produce some of the finest milk from which our cheese is made. Only fresh local milk, which we pasteurise ourselves is used to make our handcrafted cheese. Great care is taken to adhere to traditional cheese making methods. Our cheese is left to mature in our large cool stores on white pine shelves. In the case of the European cheese, they are coated, waxed and turned regularly until the desired state of maturity is reached. Only cheese which has reached the required level of maturity is permitted to leave the factory which can take up to three years for a cheese such as our mature rinded cheddar.