Hill Farm lies just outside Dunlop, Ayrshire. Eòghann Mac Colla’s family came to the area at beginning of the 20th Century. The farm is the home of the original press for the original Dunlop Cheese, first made by Barbara Gilmour back in 1692. Now made just along the road in the Dunlop Dairy.
The characteristics of Dunlop cheese are that it is a mild, sweet, buttery-tasting cheese with a semi-soft texture when young but maturing to a fudgey or hard texture after a few months. Dunlop cheese is soft and tasteless when turned out of the chesset or mould, and requires from six to twelve months to mature; and to acquire the light, elegant, charming flavour and fragrance peculiar to the Dunlop, it must be kept in a thoroughly dry place, and be frequently turned upside-down, as it undergoes a slight fermentation which heaves it a little on the top.
A demo recording of this can be found at Recordings.
A guide track for ‘The Hill’ is available below for listening: -
You can download a PDF of the sheet music here
- or braille format here.
The track is additionally available within the following collections and sets: -
Associated Collections: -
6/8
Ayrshire Places
Jig
The Kilmarnock Collection
