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The land surrounding Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese is some of the richest, most fruitful land in all of Canada. The unique loamy soils, balanced amounts of rain, and hot summer days and cold winter frosts combine to create ideal growing conditions for many types of plants. Visitors will have to come see for themselves how stunning the lush forests, rolling green hills and open fields of Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese really are! Come early in the morning and experience the warmth of the sun rise over the pastured hills, or visit in the evening and enjoy watching the sun set over the fields of corn.
Any time of the day or year, you will enjoy all that nature has to offer while enjoying the tastes of the bounty of the land at Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese.
The milk used to produce Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese comes from the third generation family dairy farm, Friesvale Farms. The cattle from Friesvale Farms are recognized throughout Canada for being of top quality due to the personal care that comes from the farm being family run. Most of the feed they consume is grown and harvested on the rolling hills surrounding the farm and Cheese plant including corn, grass and alfalfa.
The cow’s diets are carefully balanced with these feeds to ensure they are given the best nutrients daily to create the best tasting milk in Oxford County. Having the milk produced only a few hundred meters away means that Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese is using the freshest milk possible to create all of its delicious cheeses!
Oxford County is famous for being the dairy capital of Canada. Numerous icons and events throughout the county exist to celebrate this wonderful accomplishment. It is also a historic site for cheese making. Since the mid-1800's Oxford County has been a huge producer of cheeses that were in demand both locally and internationally with much of it being shipped to England and the United States.
Friesvale Farms has been a rich part of that history as well as it has been in business for over 60 years. Sjerp Ysselstein Sr. was a young dairy farmer in Holland and moved here after the war in 1951. He met and married another recent Dutch immigrant and they soon had four children and managed to build a strong dairy business in the exact location of where Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese is today. Sjerp and Margaretha Ysselstein taught their children how to work hard by caring for animals and the land. Eventually their son and daughter-in-law, John and Helen Ysselstein took over the family farm and began to pass down the skills to their five sons. The oldest son, Shep Ysselstein with his partner Colleen Bator have now extended the dairy farm by beginning to process the milk from the farm into unique artisan cheeses. After many years of planting this new business, Gunn's Hill Artisan Cheese, has begun production and the rich history of cheese making in Oxford Country vibrantly lives on.