The EthicalDairy

Rainton Farm near Gatehouse of Fleet is the first commercial dairy in the country to farm the cow-with-calf way — leaving calves to suckle rather than separating them at birth, and proving the model works at scale — and the Finlay family makes organic farmhouse cheese from that milk under the Ethical Dairy name. The famous Cream o' Galloway ice cream began here too, but the family sold that brand in 2024 and its production has since left the region; the cheese, and the farm, remain theirs. Wilma Finlay, who co-founded the enterprise and took an MBE for it in 2006, died in March 2025; her husband David farms on, with cheesemakers Stephen and Alina at the vats, and the farm opens for tours and a cheesemaking course. A dairy that rewrote its own ethics and stayed in one family's hands: the guide's first Scottish farm, and a serious one.