Custom
Rolling the Stilton
Race a cheese down the old Great North Road.
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- What's there
- Coaching village and its spring cheese-rolling races
- Legend from
- 1700s coaching trade
- Best time
- May festival Sunday
- Tone
- Light-hearted
You're coming into Stilton, the village that named England's famous blue cheese. Each May, people race cheeses down the street.
Stilton gave its name to England's best-known blue cheese because travellers on the Great North Road bought it at the Bell and other coaching inns here, although the cheese itself was made further north. Tradition says supplies came from a housekeeper at Quenby Hall in Leicestershire, sold through her relative at the inn. The village celebrates the link each spring with a cheese-rolling festival, in which teams race wooden 'cheeses' along the old main street. In 2026 the event was held on the playing field with a parade and a Wild West theme, and a real cheese was rolled and survived the heat.