Love & Devotion

With Valentine’s Day at its heart, February is the month of love. That means that we’re thinking of romance, of course, but we’re also thinking of other forms of love – and that’s how grandmother Ivy and all that she began is in our thoughts.

Ivy had her romantic side, of course, and her love for her husband Tom is a story that’s been passed down the generations. It began with our grandfather, then a young man, arriving at her door with the excuse of borrowing a ferret from her brother, and then went on with the gift of some apples. Like most of these how-we-met stories, it’s told with a smile but there’s no doubt about the strength of Ivy and Tom’s relationship, just as there’s no doubt that Ivy’s Reserve as we know it was founded on a different but equally powerful kind of love.

She had a deep and lasting love for her husband, Tom, but it was their shared attitude of care, service and commitment that we think of. It was their collective devotion to craft and to doing things right, along with their deep love of nature and the countryside, that made their cheese- and butter-making exceptional. It was the long hours spent on the physical labour of setting, pressing and turning cheese moulds, testing and grading, and the focus on improving and perfecting and experimenting that made Ivy’s recipes so special. This kind of work, carried out with the single aim of doing the very best, is done for love.

Making and sharing food is also an act of love, and was particularly important to Ivy. Hard-working and serious as she could be, she was known for her warmth. “She was a kind person and liked nothing better than to listen to people’s problems, showing an understanding and empathy,” is how her daughter Margaret remembers her. “She was very personable, she could get on with anyone,” says her son John.

Ivy expressed this to her friends and the community at large, and in hosting parties, but her first priority was always her family, from her four children to her 14 grandchildren. Caring for them, and in particular feeding them, was a pleasure not a chore. What we remember most about these feasts, apart from the sheer skill of her cooking and her apparently effortless management, is that Ivy did it herself, from planning to execution, and with her own hands. It was another gift to us, made without fuss or even thought, another act of generosity from a woman who was always generous.

Also made by her own hand were her Cheddar and butter at the very start of Ivy’s Reserve. She shared her skill and care with us as a family, and her work in the dairy was a continuation of that, this time to share with the world. Following her recipe, and following her example of caring for the countryside as we do so, is our way of respecting that love.

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