Northern
By Debbie Orme
Notes
Music
Fab food the order of the day at The Dairy
Sandra McDowell stands in front of her well-stocked deli counter
Local, top-quality produce has never been so popular and The Dairy with its farm shop, butchers and bistro’s gastronomic offering certainly has taste buds in Gleno – and the surrounding area – flowing. The Dairy is built on the former site of a co-operative creamery, which was founded more than a century ago. The name for the business, ‘The Dairy’ is a welcome reminder of the building's former history. When business owner, Sandra McDowell along with her late husband Robert, decided to breathe new life into the area by creating a coffee shop and gift shop, she soon found that the project was taking on a life of its own. ‘My late husband and I bought the original dairy building over thirty years ago,’ said Sandra.
100% eco-friendly gas (Calor BioLPG) for all its heating and cooking. ‘While our initial vision was to create a quaint, little coffee shop with a neighbouring gift shop, as the project began to develop, we realised that there were new, wide-ranging opportunities,’ Sandra continued. ‘We instead opted to develop the building as a bistro, butcher’s shop and farm store.’
‘It was really important to us that the new business retained the charm and history of the old. And so while we had to demolish and rebuild the site we were conscious to merge the new with the traditional to create a place that felt like it fitted perfectly in our rural surroundings. ‘We stripped the old building, retaining all of the items that we could salvage, such as slates and beams. We kept the old stone to build the fireplace, the windows to create dividing sections in the restaurant and my brother-in-law even handcrafted the tables from the old beamwork if we could use it again, then we made sure nothing was wasted.’
‘I’m also a big advocate of top-quality, locally-sourced produce and so, naturally, we wanted to provide such products both in-store and in our Bistro. Our shop showcases quality local suppliers in our varied range of artisan products, ranging from chutneys to chocolates; from breads to sweet treats. On our menus we have also marked the local items or produce that you can purchase behind our butchers counter or in the store to take home.’
To keep the operations as sustainable as possible, the building also uses
Passionate about sustainable agriculture and traditional free-range farming, owner Sandra takes pride in personally curating and sourcing all items. All the beef and lamb sold at the butchers are reared onsite on the family farm.
Visitors to The Dairy can pick up a gourmet hamper in store or online, choosing from a range of ready-made options. Alternatively, one can be assembled while visitors are on site. Senior Times l January - February 2022 l www.seniortimes.ie 71
