Airthrey Kerse Farm enfolds a deep pocket of bright green grass by a village called Bridge of Allan, in the central Lowlands of Scotland, close to the historical heart of the nation. The ancient stronghold Stirling Castle rises from the landscape on a looming crag of quartz nearby, and medieval Scots warriors fought on surrounding ground under William Wallace and Robert the Bruce around the turn of the 14th century, winning the famous battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn.

This site is no less important to the personal heritage of Robert Graham and his family. His grandparents founded the farm as newlyweds back in 1939, though his great-grandfather had also farmed in the area. “They started out with a dozen cows, all milked by hand and they delivered that milk around the village by horse and cart,” says Robert. His father was born in the farmhouse only a year later and grew up to take over when the time came.

“He expanded the business to a wider area across central Scotland, and it has continued to grow since.” Now run by Robert himself, and his sister Carol, Graham’s Family Dairy delivers fresh milk and related products throughout Scotland and England, as well as exporting overseas to retailers such as Spinneys in the UAE. Their father, Robert Sr, is 83 years old but still lives close by and visits the dairy every day.

“It’s important to us, keeping that provenance as a family business,” says Robert Jr. He is speaking over the contented mooing of his own well-fed herd, which is still in the barn at the time of our early springtime visit. “As you can see, these are beautiful Jersey cows, and they’re all looking very happy,” he says. “If you want to have great products you need to start with great milk, and the only way to get that is to look after your cows, right from when they’re just born. That’s the starting point for everything we make.”

Drier months outdoors grazing on nutritious grass; Graham’s Family Dairy was established in 1939 │ Second and third generation of the Grahams – Robert Sr with his wife Jean, daughter Carol and son Robert │ Graham’s Squidgies are made with creamy whole milk and fruit │ Robert Sr and Jr believe that well-cared for cows produce the best milk, which results in superior products such as their yoghurt, sour cream and more │ The National Wallace Monument watches over the surrounding countryside like a lone sentinel
Drier months outdoors grazing on nutritious grass; Graham’s Family Dairy was established in 1939 │ Second and third generation of the Grahams – Robert Sr with his wife Jean, daughter Carol and son Robert │ Graham’s Squidgies are made with creamy whole milk and fruit │ Robert Sr and Jr believe that well-cared for cows produce the best milk, which results in superior products such as their yoghurt, sour cream and more │ The National Wallace Monument watches over the surrounding countryside like a lone sentinel
Drier months outdoors grazing on nutritious grass; Graham’s Family Dairy was established in 1939 │ Second and third generation of the Grahams – Robert Sr with his wife Jean, daughter Carol and son Robert │ Graham’s Squidgies are made with creamy whole milk and fruit │ Robert Sr and Jr believe that well-cared for cows produce the best milk, which results in superior products such as their yoghurt, sour cream and more │ The National Wallace Monument watches over the surrounding countryside like a lone sentinel
Drier months outdoors grazing on nutritious grass; Graham’s Family Dairy was established in 1939 │ Second and third generation of the Grahams – Robert Sr with his wife Jean, daughter Carol and son Robert │ Graham’s Squidgies are made with creamy whole milk and fruit │ Robert Sr and Jr believe that well-cared for cows produce the best milk, which results in superior products such as their yoghurt, sour cream and more │ The National Wallace Monument watches over the surrounding countryside like a lone sentinel
Drier months outdoors grazing on nutritious grass; Graham’s Family Dairy was established in 1939 │ Second and third generation of the Grahams – Robert Sr with his wife Jean, daughter Carol and son Robert │ Graham’s Squidgies are made with creamy whole milk and fruit │ Robert Sr and Jr believe that well-cared for cows produce the best milk, which results in superior products such as their yoghurt, sour cream and more │ The National Wallace Monument watches over the surrounding countryside like a lone sentinel
Drier months outdoors grazing on nutritious grass; Graham’s Family Dairy was established in 1939 │ Second and third generation of the Grahams – Robert Sr with his wife Jean, daughter Carol and son Robert │ Graham’s Squidgies are made with creamy whole milk and fruit │ Robert Sr and Jr believe that well-cared for cows produce the best milk, which results in superior products such as their yoghurt, sour cream and more │ The National Wallace Monument watches over the surrounding countryside like a lone sentinel

These cows will typically stay cosy in the barn until May, he says, then go out in the fields through the warmer, drier months until September or October, when the temperature drops and the ground again becomes too wet. And it does get very wet in this part of Scotland. “My dad used to say that for every mile you go east from our farm you get an inch less rain per year. And going west it’s the opposite,” says Robert. All that rain helps the grass grow and nourishes the cows to improve the quality of the milk and, by extension, all the other products made with it.

At Spinneys, for example, Graham’s high-protein yoghurt pots and pouches, sold in various different flavours (mango, papaya, passionfruit etc), have proven very popular with the UAE market. “They’re a huge driver for customers looking for easy ways of getting protein that also taste fantastic.” The dairy’s partnership with Spinneys is now expanding to include spreadable butter, sour cream and cottage cheese under our SpinneysFOOD label.

“The butter may seem like a simple thing,” says Robert, “but it’s very important to start with the best possible fresh cream and churn it through the traditional process. For sour cream, we take that fresh cream and culture it for six to eight hours to give it that great lactic flavour before we pack it into pots.”

Cottage cheese, meanwhile, has suddenly become a big deal, partly because of a recent trend for showcasing related uses and recipes on social media.“Our cottage cheese comes from skimmed milk, and our process involves another traditional method using open vats, which we think gives a great curd structure. With a little dressing added it’s a fantastic product with a bit of bite to it, and it has been a staple for a long time, but in the last 12 months or so interest is really exploding. Sales are up about 40 per cent, driven by TikTok and videos of people doing different things with it. One example is cottage cheese cookie dough with peanut butter, which I’ve made some of myself and it was very good.”

Carol and Robert │ Protein 22 is a deliciously smooth, dessert yoghurt that is naturally high in protein and fat-free │ An old-fashioned glass milk bottle │ Stirling Castle sits atop an intrusive crag │ The original Graham family homestead
Carol and Robert │ Protein 22 is a deliciously smooth, dessert yoghurt that is naturally high in protein and fat-free │ An old-fashioned glass milk bottle │ Stirling Castle sits atop an intrusive crag │ The original Graham family homestead
Carol and Robert │ Protein 22 is a deliciously smooth, dessert yoghurt that is naturally high in protein and fat-free │ An old-fashioned glass milk bottle │ Stirling Castle sits atop an intrusive crag │ The original Graham family homestead
Carol and Robert │ Protein 22 is a deliciously smooth, dessert yoghurt that is naturally high in protein and fat-free │ An old-fashioned glass milk bottle │ Stirling Castle sits atop an intrusive crag │ The original Graham family homestead
Carol and Robert │ Protein 22 is a deliciously smooth, dessert yoghurt that is naturally high in protein and fat-free │ An old-fashioned glass milk bottle │ Stirling Castle sits atop an intrusive crag │ The original Graham family homestead
Carol and Robert │ Protein 22 is a deliciously smooth, dessert yoghurt that is naturally high in protein and fat-free │ An old-fashioned glass milk bottle │ Stirling Castle sits atop an intrusive crag │ The original Graham family homestead

Sheer demand for Graham’s products has required a corresponding growth at the supply end over the decades. Though still very much a family dairy that milks its own cows, the core farm has come to source fresh, high-quality milk from an ever-growing network of peers.

“We now work with just under 100 other farms across Scotland. We started with just a couple about 30 years ago and we’ve had many more join us since. They’re family farms like us, and that gradual process means we know them all – the mums and dads and the sons and daughters coming into the business. We’ve almost been able to hand-select whom we work with. And we have three different types of milk coming to the site: conventional, also organic for certain products, and Jersey milk for our Gold Top products.”

As to whether his own kids will follow him into the trade, it’s a little too early to say with both still at school – though Robert’s daughter wants to study marketing, which could well prove useful to the future fortunes of the dairy. Showing us around the farmhouse where his father was born, from the dining room to what they used to call the “smart sitting room”, Robert often reflects on his own place within the continuum of that family history.

He remembers well his own childhood in and around this homestead. “I have lots of very fond memories of growing up on the farm, going out in the fields as a small boy with my grandfather and my dad to bring the cows in, helping with the calving, driving tractors when I was still very young, working in the parlour milking the cows.”

Much has changed since, on this particular farm and throughout the trade in general. But to all intents and purposes, it’s still the same as it ever was around here: the rain, the grass, the cows and the milk itself, flowing out of the Scottish countryside like a promise constantly kept.

Fresh commercial manager

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Paul Crawford says

Graham’s Family Dairy has focused on innovation over the last few years. The company has jumped on a lot of trends, especially dairy products that are enriched with protein such as its pots and pouches. We saw an opportunity to work with Graham’s exclusively since it didn’t have a presence in the UAE market. We’re also working with Graham’s on private label products since the brand’s quality credentials align with ours perfectly. The spreadable butter they’re making for Spinneys tastes incredible.