THE human stories behind the dairy industries which have shaped one of Britain's best known dales, producing one of its most famous cheeses, are being explored in a two year project.

For centuries Wensleydale has been at the centre of cheese making and milk production now a £37,700 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will help historians and archaeologists find out more.

Organisers of the project, called Dairy Days, are calling on local people whose families have been involved in the dairy industry to get involved, and help fill in the gaps in their knowledge.

Events planned also include a big dig, researching archaeological sites linked to cattle farming with people trained to carry out archaeological field surveys and 3D recordings of buildings. Oral history interviews will be carried to discover more about milking in the dale, as well as cheese, cream and butter production.

A new three day walking trail is being marked out, dubbed the Milky Way, and there will be a series of short walk leaflets.

Dairy Days Project Officer, Karen Griffiths, who works for the Yorkshire Dales National Park said: “Dairying has been at the heart of the Wensleydale economy since records began and is still thriving today. We aim to research and then share the story of this unbroken thread.

“We already have a wonderful resource of artefacts and archive photographs thanks to historians Marie Hartley, Ella Pontefract and Joan Ingilby. Their collections were the foundation of the Dales Countryside Museum.

“However, much of the context for the artefacts and photos has been lost. This is an opportunity for farming families to re-engage with these items which have been collected from their distant and not-so distant relatives and provide a much fuller, more human story to go with the collections."

Dairy farmer Matthew Bell of Semmerdale Hall Farm near Askrigg said the project has a vital role to play in collecting the stories of the past. “I think there is a generation my dad’s age, he's in his eighties, that started hand milking cows in barns, then went onto the first milking machines and up to the fairly automated milking parlours of today. They have this knowledge, and I think it needs capturing," he added.

The project launches at the Dales Countryside Museum on April 24 at 10.30am, all are welcome.