New layered yoghurts from a Heavenly Herd

Heavenly Herd brand layered yoghurts have been developed by artisan producer Clandeboye Estate Yoghurts in Northern Ireland to expand business in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

The farm-based company has launched a gourmet range of three new yoghurt flavours in family-sized 500g tubs - Lemon Curd, Senga Strawberry and Mango - under the new and eye-catching brand identity that James Averdieck, founder of Gü, the up-market chocolate dessert leader, has helped to shape.

Averdieck was invited byLady Dufferin, who launched Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt as a farm diversification scheme on her estate at Bangor in County Down in 2007, to advise on how best to drive faster growth particularly in Great Britain.

The new Greek style yoghurts continue to be produced from milk supplied from Lady Dufferin's Clandeboye Estate's award winning herd of Holstein and Jersey cows. Awards won by the herd include the Supreme Championship at the Irish National Holstein Show and the Best Pedigree Holstein Herd.

Clandeboye Estate's handcrafted yoghurts, the only yoghurts produced in Northern Ireland, have also been successful in the prestigious UK Great Taste Awards.

The company's existing Greek style Clandeboye Estate natural and stirred yoghurts are now listed by major retail multiples including Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda as well as symbol groups, such as Spar, and many independent stores.

Bryan Boggs, Clandeboye Estate's general manager, said: "The launch of the Heavenly Herd branded range is an immensely exciting development that's intended to expand our overall business by positioning the company in Great Britain and the Republic with a different range of attractively branded products. The identify and layered yoghurts represent a completely new direction for the company.

"Guided by Mr Averdieck, we saw an opportunity to create a new and distinctively different identity and new layered yoghurts that would attract the attention of young families in Britain and Ireland. We came up with the Heavenly Herd concept to showcase the provenance of the quality milk sourced from our own award-winning herd."

All the yoghurts, both Clandeboye Estate and Heavenly Herd brands, are made by hand in a small artisan dairy on the 2,000 acre estate and are produced without added milk powder, cream or other thickening agents thus ensuring a true 100 per cent natural taste. The yoghurts are hand crafted in small batches to ensure consistently high quality products and are provided to retailers and foodservice organisations.

In addition to natural and Greek yoghurts, the Clandeboye Estate range features raspberry, strawberry and toffee and caramel. Over the past year, the company's turnover has doubled from the introduction of the stirred yoghurts.