Our History
In 1963, Douglas and Diana Smart purchased Old Ley Court. They moved to the farm with 4 small boys and inherited 3 cows from the outgoing farmer. Over time, the family developed a milking herd mainly from a mix of Shorthorn and Ayeshire cattle.
Towards the mid 60s/early 70s, Smart’s farm were encouraged to move towards Holstein cattle to increase milk yield. Unfortunately, the Holstein’s didn’t work for the farm, they were too large, too sickly and the cows simply couldn’t fit in the farm buildings.
In the late 1970s, Smart’s farm transitioned to alternative breeds of cow, favouring the MRI. During this period, Diana began a milk round delivering unpasturised milk around Gloucester. She also skimmed some milk to sell cream and make yogurt. This delivery service then expanded to sell other farm produce including beef and eggs.
In the mid 1980s, Diana took the opportunity to take over a local cheese business and rights to a local cheese event in Gloucester. Aged 60, Diana started to build and develop her own cheese business as a retirement project. The cheese then became a key part of the business at Old Ley Court and enabled the farm to remain a small family run dairy farm.
In 1986, the original cheese house was built to allow Diana and her son, Jamie to continue to build the cheese business on the farm. The team of cheese makers fluctuated but a core team continued throughout, including Jamie, Diana and Gary.
In 1994, the PDO for Single Gloucester cheese was established by Diana Smart and one other local cheese maker. So Smart’s farm bought Gloucester cattle to protect the breed and save the Single Gloucester Cheese. In 1994, Jamie sadly passed away. Diana’s third son, Rod, stepped up to help his parents with the running of the farm and making of the cheese. Over time, Rod took over making the cheese but Diana kept a keen interest in the business and was fully involved until her death in 2021.During the early 2000s, Diana spent more time focusing on building the cheese business so the local delivery round began to dwindle. In 2005, Douglas Smart passed away.
In 2010, Rod decided that he needed a larger facility to continue to make even more cheese into the future. Plans were drafted and approved for a new cheese house to be built on the farm.
In 2013, the new, larger cheese house was opened and Smart’s cheese has been housed here ever since. In this same year, Smart’s celebrated 50 years at Old Ley Court.
