HAVE you a cheese stone in your garden?

You would be surprised just how many people have without knowing it.

The cheese-making process used to be finished off by the cheese being compressed in a vat between two large stones.

The lower stone of the press , which was flat with a circular grove carved in it, did not usually survive.

While lower stones are rare to find there are hundreds of top stones laying unnoticed around the county.

There was one on Revidge for many years.

It was set in the footpath by some railings near the Corporation Park Hotel.

Like many other cheese stones it has been used as a bollard.

It is now the proud decoration in a nearby garden.

Cheese stones can be found in some strange places.

Some are used as mounting blocks, many as bollards. One has been found as the base of a cross. Others are used as sundials and water features. One lady was found to keep her mop and bucket in one.

The wooden frames of the cheese presses have not survived.

There is a top and bottom stone in the visitor centre at Witton Park.