diff --git a/stackinator/cache.py b/stackinator/cache.py
index ddafb981..afeba5e2 100644
--- a/stackinator/cache.py
+++ b/stackinator/cache.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ def configuration_from_file(file, mount):
         raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
 
         # validate the yaml
-        schema.cache_validator.validate(raw)
+        schema.CacheValidator.validate(raw)
 
         # verify that the root path exists
         path = pathlib.Path(os.path.expandvars(raw["root"]))
diff --git a/stackinator/recipe.py b/stackinator/recipe.py
index 2e997983..473cd2e9 100644
--- a/stackinator/recipe.py
+++ b/stackinator/recipe.py
@@ -51,28 +51,6 @@ def __init__(self, args):
         # required config.yaml file
         self.config = self.path / "config.yaml"
 
-        # check the version of the recipe
-        if self.config["version"] != 2:
-            rversion = self.config["version"]
-            if rversion == 1:
-                self._logger.error(
-                    "\nThe recipe is an old version 1 recipe for Spack v0.23 and earlier.\n"
-                    "This version of Stackinator supports Spack 1.0, and has deprecated support for Spack v0.23.\n"
-                    "Use version 5 of stackinator, which can be accessed via the releases/v5 branch:\n"
-                    "    git switch releases/v5\n\n"
-                    "If this recipe is to be used with Spack 1.0, then please add the field 'version: 2' to\n"
-                    "config.yaml in your recipe.\n\n"
-                    "For more information: https://eth-cscs.github.io/stackinator/recipes/#configuration\n"
-                )
-                raise RuntimeError("incompatible uenv recipe version")
-            else:
-                self._logger.error(
-                    f"\nThe config.yaml file sets an unknown recipe version={rversion}.\n"
-                    "This version of Stackinator supports version 2 recipes.\n\n"
-                    "For more information: https://eth-cscs.github.io/stackinator/recipes/#configuration\n"
-                )
-                raise RuntimeError("incompatible uenv recipe version")
-
         # override the mount point if defined as a CLI argument
         if args.mount:
             self.config["store"] = args.mount
@@ -89,7 +67,7 @@ def __init__(self, args):
 
         with compiler_path.open() as fid:
             raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-            schema.compilers_validator.validate(raw)
+            schema.CompilersValidator.validate(raw)
             self.generate_compiler_specs(raw)
 
         # required environments.yaml file
@@ -110,7 +88,7 @@ def __init__(self, args):
                 "specs": ["squashfs"],
                 "views": {},
             }
-            schema.environments_validator.validate(raw)
+            schema.EnvironmentsValidator.validate(raw)
             self.generate_environment_specs(raw)
 
         # optional modules.yaml file
@@ -269,7 +247,7 @@ def config(self, config_path):
 
         with config_path.open() as fid:
             raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-            schema.config_validator.validate(raw)
+            schema.ConfigValidator.validate(raw)
             self._config = raw
 
     # In Stackinator 6 we replaced logic required to determine the
diff --git a/stackinator/schema.py b/stackinator/schema.py
index 0f6379d6..4e981900 100644
--- a/stackinator/schema.py
+++ b/stackinator/schema.py
@@ -1,54 +1,114 @@
 import json
 import pathlib
+from textwrap import dedent
 
 import jsonschema
 import yaml
 
+from . import root_logger
+
 prefix = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.resolve()
 
-# create a validator that will insert optional fields with their default values
-# if they have not been provided.
+
+def py2yaml(data, indent):
+    dump = yaml.dump(data)
+    lines = [ln for ln in dump.split("\n") if ln != ""]
+    res = ("\n" + " " * indent).join(lines)
+    return res
 
 
-def extend_with_default(validator_class):
-    validate_properties = validator_class.VALIDATORS["properties"]
+def validator(schema):
+    """
+    Create a new validator class that will insert optional fields with their default values
+    if they have not been provided.
+    """
 
-    def set_defaults(validator, properties, instance, schema):
-        # if instance is none, it's not possible to set any default for any sub-property
-        if instance is not None:
-            for property, subschema in properties.items():
-                if "default" in subschema:
-                    instance.setdefault(property, subschema["default"])
+    def extend_with_default(validator_class):
+        validate_properties = validator_class.VALIDATORS["properties"]
 
-        for error in validate_properties(
-            validator,
-            properties,
-            instance,
-            schema,
-        ):
-            yield error
+        def set_defaults(validator, properties, instance, schema):
+            # if instance is none, it's not possible to set any default for any sub-property
+            if instance is not None:
+                for property, subschema in properties.items():
+                    if "default" in subschema:
+                        instance.setdefault(property, subschema["default"])
 
-    return jsonschema.validators.extend(
-        validator_class,
-        {"properties": set_defaults},
-    )
+            for error in validate_properties(
+                validator,
+                properties,
+                instance,
+                schema,
+            ):
+                yield error
 
+        return jsonschema.validators.extend(
+            validator_class,
+            {"properties": set_defaults},
+        )
 
-def py2yaml(data, indent):
-    dump = yaml.dump(data)
-    lines = [ln for ln in dump.split("\n") if ln != ""]
-    res = ("\n" + " " * indent).join(lines)
-    return res
+    # try to read dialect metaschema from the $schema entry, otherwise fallback to a default one.
+    metaschema = jsonschema.validators.validator_for(schema)
+
+    return extend_with_default(metaschema)(schema)
+
+
+class ValidationError(jsonschema.ValidationError):
+    def __init__(self, name: str, errors: list[jsonschema.ValidationError]):
+        assert len(errors) != 0
+        messages = [
+            f"- Failed validating '{error.validator}' in {error.json_path} : {error.message}" for error in errors
+        ]
+        message = f"ValidationError in '{name}'\n"
+        message += "\n".join(messages)
+        super().__init__(message)
+
+
+class SchemaValidator:
+    def __init__(self, schema_filepath: pathlib.Path, precheck=None):
+        self._validator = validator(json.load(open(schema_filepath)))
+        self._precheck = precheck
+
+    def validate(self, instance: dict):
+        if self._precheck:
+            self._precheck(instance)
+
+        errors = [error for error in self._validator.iter_errors(instance)]
+
+        if len(errors) != 0:
+            raise ValidationError(self._validator.schema.get("title", "no-title"), errors)
+
+
+def check_config_version(instance):
+    rversion = instance.get("version", 1)
+    if rversion != 2:
+        if rversion == 1:
+            root_logger.error(
+                dedent("""
+                       The recipe is an old version 1 recipe for Spack v0.23 and earlier.
+                       This version of Stackinator supports Spack 1.0, and has deprecated support for Spack v0.23.
+                       Use version 5 of stackinator, which can be accessed via the releases/v5 branch:
+                       git switch releases/v5
+
+                       If this recipe is to be used with Spack 1.0, then please add the field 'version: 2' to
+                       config.yaml in your recipe.
+
+                       For more information: https://eth-cscs.github.io/stackinator/recipes/#configuration
+                       """)
+            )
+            raise RuntimeError("incompatible uenv recipe version")
+        else:
+            root_logger.error(
+                dedent(f"""
+                       The config.yaml file sets an unknown recipe version={rversion}.
+                       This version of Stackinator supports version 2 recipes.
 
+                       For more information: https://eth-cscs.github.io/stackinator/recipes/#configuration
+                       """)
+            )
+            raise RuntimeError("incompatible uenv recipe version")
 
-validator = extend_with_default(jsonschema.Draft7Validator)
 
-# load recipe yaml schema
-config_schema = json.load(open(prefix / "schema/config.json"))
-config_validator = validator(config_schema)
-compilers_schema = json.load(open(prefix / "schema/compilers.json"))
-compilers_validator = validator(compilers_schema)
-environments_schema = json.load(open(prefix / "schema/environments.json"))
-environments_validator = validator(environments_schema)
-cache_schema = json.load(open(prefix / "schema/cache.json"))
-cache_validator = validator(cache_schema)
+ConfigValidator = SchemaValidator(prefix / "schema/config.json", check_config_version)
+CompilersValidator = SchemaValidator(prefix / "schema/compilers.json")
+EnvironmentsValidator = SchemaValidator(prefix / "schema/environments.json")
+CacheValidator = SchemaValidator(prefix / "schema/cache.json")
diff --git a/unittests/recipes/base-nvgpu/config.yaml b/unittests/recipes/base-nvgpu/config.yaml
index 0b6d54c1..a2b14813 100644
--- a/unittests/recipes/base-nvgpu/config.yaml
+++ b/unittests/recipes/base-nvgpu/config.yaml
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@ spack:
     commit: 6408b51
 mirror:
     enable: false
+version: 2
diff --git a/unittests/recipes/cache/config.yaml b/unittests/recipes/cache/config.yaml
index 175b89b4..ee25a292 100644
--- a/unittests/recipes/cache/config.yaml
+++ b/unittests/recipes/cache/config.yaml
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ spack:
 mirror:
   key: /scratch/e1000/bcumming/secret/spack-key.gpg
   enable: true
+version: 2
diff --git a/unittests/recipes/host-recipe/config.yaml b/unittests/recipes/host-recipe/config.yaml
index e108b998..30b15889 100644
--- a/unittests/recipes/host-recipe/config.yaml
+++ b/unittests/recipes/host-recipe/config.yaml
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@ description: "An example gcc configuration for CPU-only development"
 spack:
   commit: releases/v0.23
   repo: https://github.com/spack/spack.git
-
+version: 2
diff --git a/unittests/recipes/with-repo/config.yaml b/unittests/recipes/with-repo/config.yaml
index 6f00c077..89c9dcac 100644
--- a/unittests/recipes/with-repo/config.yaml
+++ b/unittests/recipes/with-repo/config.yaml
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@ store: '/user-environment'
 spack:
     repo: https://github.com/spack/spack.git
     commit: v21.0
+version: 2
diff --git a/unittests/test_schema.py b/unittests/test_schema.py
index da1f8ed8..6850e5fe 100644
--- a/unittests/test_schema.py
+++ b/unittests/test_schema.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
 
 import pathlib
+from textwrap import dedent
 
 import jsonschema
 import pytest
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ def test_config_yaml(yaml_path):
     # test that the defaults are set as expected
     with open(yaml_path / "config.defaults.yaml") as fid:
         raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-        schema.validator(schema.config_schema).validate(raw)
+        schema.ConfigValidator.validate(raw)
         assert raw["store"] == "/user-environment"
         assert raw["spack"]["commit"] is None
         assert raw["modules"] == True  # noqa: E712
@@ -47,33 +48,43 @@ def test_config_yaml(yaml_path):
 
     with open(yaml_path / "config.full.yaml") as fid:
         raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-        schema.validator(schema.config_schema).validate(raw)
+        schema.ConfigValidator.validate(raw)
         assert raw["store"] == "/alternative-point"
         assert raw["spack"]["commit"] == "6408b51"
         assert raw["modules"] == False  # noqa: E712
         assert raw["mirror"] == {"enable": True, "key": "/home/bob/veryprivate.key"}
         assert raw["description"] == "a really useful environment"
 
+    # unsupported old version
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="incompatible uenv recipe version"):
+        config = dedent("""
+        name: cuda-env
+        spack:
+            repo: https://github.com/spack/spack.git
+        """)
+        raw = yaml.load(config, Loader=yaml.Loader)
+        schema.ConfigValidator.validate(raw)
+
 
 def test_recipe_config_yaml(recipe_paths):
     # validate the config.yaml in the test recipes
     for p in recipe_paths:
         with open(p / "config.yaml") as fid:
             raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-            schema.validator(schema.config_schema).validate(raw)
+            schema.ConfigValidator.validate(raw)
 
 
 def test_compilers_yaml(yaml_path):
     # test that the defaults are set as expected
     with open(yaml_path / "compilers.defaults.yaml") as fid:
         raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-        schema.validator(schema.compilers_schema).validate(raw)
+        schema.CompilersValidator.validate(raw)
         assert raw["gcc"] == {"version": "10.2"}
         assert raw["llvm"] is None
 
     with open(yaml_path / "compilers.full.yaml") as fid:
         raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-        schema.validator(schema.compilers_schema).validate(raw)
+        schema.CompilersValidator.validate(raw)
         assert raw["gcc"] == {"version": "11"}
         assert raw["llvm"] == {"version": "13"}
         assert raw["nvhpc"] == {"version": "25.1"}
@@ -84,13 +95,13 @@ def test_recipe_compilers_yaml(recipe_paths):
     for p in recipe_paths:
         with open(p / "compilers.yaml") as fid:
             raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-            schema.validator(schema.compilers_schema).validate(raw)
+            schema.CompilersValidator.validate(raw)
 
 
 def test_environments_yaml(yaml_path):
     with open(yaml_path / "environments.full.yaml") as fid:
         raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-        schema.validator(schema.environments_schema).validate(raw)
+        schema.EnvironmentsValidator.validate(raw)
 
         # the defaults-env does not set fields
         # test that they have been set to the defaults correctly
@@ -136,7 +147,7 @@ def test_environments_yaml(yaml_path):
             jsonschema.exceptions.ValidationError,
             match=r"Additional properties are not allowed \('providers' was unexpected",
         ):
-            schema.validator(schema.environments_schema).validate(raw)
+            schema.EnvironmentsValidator.validate(raw)
 
 
 def test_recipe_environments_yaml(recipe_paths):
@@ -144,4 +155,4 @@ def test_recipe_environments_yaml(recipe_paths):
     for p in recipe_paths:
         with open(p / "environments.yaml") as fid:
             raw = yaml.load(fid, Loader=yaml.Loader)
-            schema.validator(schema.environments_schema).validate(raw)
+            schema.EnvironmentsValidator.validate(raw)
diff --git a/unittests/yaml/config.defaults.yaml b/unittests/yaml/config.defaults.yaml
index 4f90b1ea..0571b297 100644
--- a/unittests/yaml/config.defaults.yaml
+++ b/unittests/yaml/config.defaults.yaml
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ spack:
     #enable: True
 # default True
 #modules: True
+version: 2
diff --git a/unittests/yaml/config.full.yaml b/unittests/yaml/config.full.yaml
index fc9fa369..26267c6d 100644
--- a/unittests/yaml/config.full.yaml
+++ b/unittests/yaml/config.full.yaml
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ mirror:
     enable: True
 modules: False
 description: "a really useful environment"
+version: 2