Little Qualicum Cheeseworks at Morningstar Farm

The Farm Tour

Pick up the tour map and walk round on your own. You visit the dairy barn, where the cows are milked by a robot, meet the calves, sheep and goats, and look through the window into the cheese plant. If cheese is being made you will see it; if not, the window still shows the make room. It suits families, and the farm keeps it free.

It is a working farm, so things change. Calving varies through the year, animals move out to pasture in season, and some areas close while equipment is running.

Guided Group Tours

Groups of 10 or more can book a guided walk round the farm with a taste of the fresh milk, arranged case by case through the farm. Cheese samplers can be ordered in advance for $5 each; one serves four and holds Monterey Jill, Hot Jill, Tipsy Jill, Caraway Jill, Qualicum Spice and feta.

The Farmgate Store

The store stocks the full range of cheeses and seasonal ones, pasteurized whole milk on tap (bring a clean bottle or buy one), an espresso bar using the farm's milk, local foods and the farm's own grass-fed beef. Ice cream is sold in season. All the cheese is cow's milk. Caerphilly, Mt. Moriarty and Old Smokey are raw-milk cheeses aged well past the 60-day minimum.

Hours

The farm and store open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00, and close on all Mondays, including statutory holidays. The milk dispenser takes tokens only on Mondays from 7:00 to 15:00. The farm posts special closures on its hours page; in 2026 it was closed on 1 November.

Nearby

Natural Pastures Cheese has a factory shop at 635 McPhee Avenue in Courtenay, further up the island, open Monday to Friday. Little Qualicum does not ship cheese, so buy what you want here or at BC shops that carry it.