Vine Farm Dairy

01/04/2026

Sorry to disappoint a few of you following this mornings post, but I think we’ll stick with our original milkshake flavours for the time being… as much as we love Blue Stilton, we’d rather enjoy it on a cracker rather than drinking it through a straw 😂🧀

01/04/2026

*NEW MILKSHAKE FLAVOUR ALERT*
We are delighted to announce that we will be launching two NEW milkshake flavours to the Milk Shed this week, as requested by YOU! We’ve teamed up with and will now be offering a delicious BLUE STILTON milkshake, and as it’s Wild Garlic season, we’ve created a beautiful WILD GARLIC flavour milkshake. These limited edition milkshakes are not to be missed, we hope you enjoy!

22/03/2026

Please share far and wide for our friends over at Farmer Lou

04/03/2026

Sadly the milk vending machine is CLOSED today (Wednesday) due to a problem with the machine. We are so sorry for the inconvenience and really hope it can be rectified soon. Milk can be purchased from , , and in the meantime. Please keep an eye on our social media for updates of when it will be open. So sorry for the inconvenience.

03/03/2026

The Milk vending machine is OUT OF ORDER. We are trying to get it fixed for tomorrow. We are so sorry for anyone who has been today and experienced problems. Thank you so much for your continued patience. Charlotte + James 🥛

24/02/2026

Charlotte from Vine Farm Dairy was asked to write a blog for the Howden Rural Insurance, ‘A Walk in my Wellies’ blog. Covering farm life, Vine Farm Dairy diversification and juggling motherhood. Enjoy!

As part of our campaign to support British farming, we created this blog to provide farmers with a platform to share their stories and experiences, offering insights beyond what you see on their…

20/02/2026

THE MILK SHED WILL CLOSE AT 6PM TODAY. Due to unforeseen circumstances the Milk Shed will close at 6pm today. Back open at 7am tomorrow morning, thank you!

12/02/2026

In the 2020’s Vine Farm Dairy continued to grow in success, winning numerous awards including an International Cheese and Dairy award and Great Taste stars for both their milk and cream. COVID hit in 2020 and this was an extremely busy time for business. At the end of 2020, the Milk Shed was vandalised and the shed was redesigned to a bigger model housing more machines. Over the past few years James and Charlotte have continued to expand the retail side of the business which now supplies 25 local businesses with milk and cream from the farm including Leicester Tigers and Leicester City, and three milk vending machines. James and Richard continue to push the farm forward and there are now 6 x Fifth generation farmers running around the farm in their wellies and we hope the Vine Farm story will continue in years to come. The farm has been so lucky to have such wonderful staff over the years, and it’s been impossible to name everyone individually but they have all contributed to the story. We are extremely proud of the current team as we launch into a new era with Herdsman Jhun Jhun, George, Brad, Surinder, Norman, Hollie, Rob and the dairy team, Celia, Martin and Sam. Although we have picked the highlights for these posts, there is and continues to be constant challenges to the dairy industry including plummeting milk prices (a 30% drop in the past three months) and the constant threat of TB, but it’s been lovely to look back at the positive bits over our 100 year history, and not dwell too much on the negatives. Thank you so much for reading these posts over the past 10 days, it’s been so lovely to read your comments. Our customers are amazing, please continue to support British farming, and buy local where you can, from farms who value provenance and heritage and who have a true passion for the product they’re producing. Thank you 🐄🥛

11/02/2026

In 2011, the first Montbeliarde cow was introduced into the herd. ‘Electra’ a pedigree Montbeliarde was handpicked by our herdsman Jack and a period of cross breeding with the breed began. The Montbeliarde breed is still extremely prominent in our herd today. They are a strong, hardy cow with high protein milk, perfect for cheesemaking and delicious to drink. In 2017 the calf rearing facilities were updated with a new purpose built calf shed. In 2018, the family launched ‘Vine Farm Dairy’. It was a diversification idea lead by James to sell pasteurised milk directly to the public through an on farm vending machine. The ‘Milk Shed’ was launched in September 2018 and its popularity grew. Milkshakes and cream were quickly added and continue to be extremely popular. We picked up a couple of wholesale customers including Gelato Village in Leicester and Hambleton Bakery in Rutland and Charlotte Winn (James’ partner) and Beth Mann (Richard’s wife) worked hard delivering milk, taking on new customers and attending many shows and food festivals with our dairy products. In 2019 we won the ‘Best New Business’ award at the Melton Times awards. At the end of the decade Nean Chandler sadly passed away, living in her beloved Vine Farm until the end. We were very glad that Nean got to see the milk vending machine and she was always amazed at how far people had travelled to visit!

10/02/2026

The 2000’s was a period of transition and modernisation for the farm as James and Richard began to take over the day to day running of the farm and new buildings were added to the farm yard. The large cubicle shed was built in 2007 to accommodate the increasing herd and the new 40 point rotary milking parlour was built in 2009. The family started experimenting with cross breeding their cows, in search for the perfect cow for cheese making. In 2004, favourite cow ‘107’ (or Togolo Lily as her official pedigree name)was born. ‘107’ was to become a firm favourite over the next two decades, legend of a cow!

09/02/2026

In 1991, Jack Gascgoine our new herdsman joined Vine Farm. Jack would go on to be our herdsman for 34 years, retiring in January of this year. Jack relocated to Leicestershire with his wife Diane and three children to take up the position. Jack was a stock man through and through and his contribution and commitment to Vine Farm has been immeasurable. Jack is without a doubt one of the most hard working, dedicated, kind and reliable people and his passion, knowledge and stockmanship over the years has contributed to every aspect of the farm, teaching everybody so much along the way.
The 90’s saw a couple of new farm buildings and a brief experimentation with 3 times a day milking. The 1990’s also saw John Barwell retire and sadly in 1999 Otto Schlemmer passed away. As mentioned in previous posts, their contribution to the farm has never been forgotten.