Durrus Cheese has been made in the upland valley of Coomkeen since the late seventies. It all started as an experiment in cheese-making for the family in the farmhouse kitchen.
This proved to be a lifestyle choice and soon Jeffa Gill was producing the now well-known cheese which is sold all across Ireland and into the UK and the USA.
Durrus is a semi-soft cheese with a natural washed rind, which takes the name of the nearby Durrus village. Having started the business using milk from her own small herd of cows Jeffa eventually began working with milk from two top quality local herds and has developed this distinctive range of cheeses from cows grazing on nearby pastures, some of which border Dunmanus Bay with its dramatic landscape and salt drenched land.
Jeffa and her team in Coomkeen currently produce four award-winning cheeses. The original standard in large and small wheels, our smallest the Durrus Óg and the Dunmanus, a large wheel, matured for at least 6 months with a firmer texture.
Durrus Cheese is well known for being one of the original raw milk Irish farmhouse cheeses. We now make pasteurised versions throughout the year and our raw milk cheeses are made in the summer months when the cows are on pasture.
The Coomkeen Loop walk is a lovely way to explore the Sheep’s Head Way walking trail and it passes the Durrus farm.
