The work of servants changed little throughout the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries. Dairymaids are types of servants more particularly associated with this period, and likely to have been employed at Burghley House. However, they are neither exclusive of this period nor the only types of servants.

In the morning, dairymaids would milk the cows, and take the milk to the dairy for the cream to be separated. Skill and training was needed to time the separation properly.

1. To make butter, the milk was separated from the cream by leaving it in pans for twenty-four hours and then the cream was skimmed off. The cream was left for two to three days then churned with a plunger, washed and the moisture squeezed out. The butter was, finally, patted into shape with a pair of wooden spatulas called ‘scotch hands’, and decorated with a wooden stamp.
2. To make clotted cream, the cream was left overnight and in the morning it was heated on a very low temperature for a whole day. After cooling for one night it became very thick.
3. To make cream cheese, the cream was wrapped in calico and hung up to dry for five days. The cloth would have been changed for progressively coarser material (larger holes).
4. ‘Gervais’ cheese was made in the same way as cream cheese, but with half milk to half cheese and a little salt added. Harder cheese was made when there was an excess of milk, using rennet from a dried calf's stomach to curdle it.

It was not till the Nineteenth century that these tasks were made easier by the invention of a cream separator, which also meant less wastage since the milk did not have to stand for several days in hot weather.

The dairy and utensils had to be kept very clean, but were scoured with salt and hot water rather than soap.