Using milk from her eight cows, Jeffa Gill began to experiment with cheesemaking in a pan on top of her stove in 1979. She was unwittingly amongst the first of the modern Irish farmstead cheesemakers, crafting summer milk into nutritious winter food in the same manner as families had done from her land so many centuries ago.

The first cheeses were sold to local shops and restaurants. Jeffa says it was some time before she realized it was a business. She still then considered herself a small farmer dependent on subsidies and making clothes.

It was not until 1981 that Jeffa began to seriously regard cheesemaking as her trade and concentrate on it as her main activity. She attended a few courses to expand her knowledge. She received a $2,500 grant from the local Enterprise Board that allowed her to buy her first vat of 80 gallons and some basic equipment.

In 1987, Jeffa had received another grant, this time for a greater sum. With it, she doubled her capacity. The cheese was by now being sold as far away as England though it was still made in very modest quantities of 7 to 8 tons per year. Compare that with Tillamook's 80 tons and Cabot's 100 tons per day. A neighboring farmer had started to work with Jeffa in 1985 and Ann McGrath is still with her, now in charge of the curing rooms and packing.

By 1990 Jeffa's need for quality milk had long outstripped the capacity of her eight cows. To concentrate on the cheese, she reluctantly sold them and began to buy milk from a local farmer named Corny Buckley who had a great reputation as a conscientious dairy man with his 120 Freisan cows.

By 1997, annual production of the cheese had reached 20 tons. With a staff of six, the export market had expanded beyond the UK to the USA. The existing facilities were by now a little too small and Jeffa decided that another expansion was needed. The new facility can yield up to 30 tons per year.

Now in 2008, there have been further cheese rooms added for storage and packing, 27 tons were produced last year, we have a summer milk supplier from near Dunmanus Bay.

Durrus still remains relatively exclusive. Only the top shops and outlets are supplied, targeting the cheese counters that understand how real rinds should be handled. Durrus remains one of the few raw milk washed rind cheeses. Durrus has won many cheese awards, most notably Best Irish Cheese in the British Cheese Awards, and Supreme Champion for 2000, 2005 & 2006 at the International Food Exhibition!