A series of unfortunate events, or fortunate some might say, gave a Cambridge couple the push they needed to move forward with an artisan butter-making business that they’d been contemplating for some time.

Ex-Liverpudlians, Telecom engineer Steve Dolan and his wife Jan, an adult educator, were both made redundant unexpectedly within a week of each other.

“The idea actually came from an Everton Football Club fan forum,” says Steve, a lifelong Everton supporter. “Someone posted about their flavoured butter business, and we found no one in New Zealand was making it.”

The name Bellefield is a tribute to an old Everton training ground, and the ‘belle’ meaning ‘beautiful’ – so ‘beautiful field’ acknowledges the green pastures of the Waikato.

“Our pipe dream idea of perhaps running it from a part-time kitchen was dashed very fast,” says Jan, “There were regulations galore to comply with, and I had to write a 22,000-word Food Control Plan.”

Despite the steep learning curve, Bellefield Butter opened up for business in a brand new, customised 20-foot shipping container, set up as a commercial kitchen, outside their house. It has its own Red Line, which Jan polices strictly. This mini factory produces handmade, cultured butter in six flavours, including plain sea salt.

“We’re taking butter making back to the old days,” says Jan. “Pasteurisation kills the bacteria that eats up lactose, and so many people are lactose intolerant.”

Although they bring in pasteurised cream from a big co-op, the couple reverse the pasteurisation by adding a lactic culture and fermenting it for 24 hours. The cream then ripens for a week in the fridge, lowering the lactose levels. It is churned mechanically, but once the buttermilk is drained off, the butter is hand-washed and patiently hand-worked by Steve.

“The butter produced really evokes memories,” says Steve. “We get comments that it tastes ‘just like my gran used to make’, from so many people.”

The operation is still small-scale; they sell at the Waikato Farmer’s Markets, and supply several Hamilton and Auckland restaurants. Restaurants also eagerly take the buttermilk.

There has been much interest in the butter, with the Chilli and Lime flavour taking home a Silver at the Outstanding Food Producer Awards in association ‘Life and Leisure Magazine’, and the Pohutukawa Smoked flavour being a Runner Up in the Dairy Category of the National Farmer's Markets Winter Food Awards.