Doddington Dairy is a Cheviot family farm famed for cheese and ice cream

Set among the Cheviot Hills near Wooler, North Doddington Farm has a story worth savouring. The Maxwell family has farmed there since 1950, when they arrived from the west of Scotland, and they did not do things by halves: they moved their whole farm, cows included, by train.

Generations later, the family is still finding ways to make the most of their herd's excellent milk. Some is turned into ice cream and yoghurt, while much of the rest becomes cheese.

Cheesemaking began on the farm in 1992, and Maggie has been the cheesemaker ever since. James Maxwell has more recently learned the craft from his aunt Maggie. The farm's signature Doddington cheese is made from raw cow's milk, has a firm texture similar to Cheddar and, depending on the batch, flavours that range from bright and grassy through to savoury, brothy and almost Parmesan-like.

It has won admirers in the capital. Neal's Yard Dairy in London has been selling Doddington for more than 20 years. The farm sends samples from batches it would like the cheesemongers to taste, and the cheeses chosen are delivered monthly.

The ice cream has its own tale of North East resilience. In 2000, after milk prices had fallen sharply over the previous three years, Neill and Jackie Maxwell decided a new idea was needed and, with spare milk on hand, began making luxury handmade ice cream. At the time the farm had 250 cows. For the first three months they sold at farmers' markets throughout Northumberland, before the ice cream went into specialist food shops in the North East and Scotland and on sale direct from the dairy.

Those first cartons carried cheerful cartoons of everyone who worked at the dairy, and early flavours included Utter Chocolate, Simply Vanilla and Home Made Fudge Chunk. The recipe has always been simple: full cream milk, double cream, sugar, egg yolks and real flavours, with ingredients sourced locally wherever possible.

More than 75 years after the Maxwells stepped off that train, Doddington remains a fine example of a farming family turning great milk into something special.

Doddington cheese can be ordered from specialist cheesemongers including Neal's Yard Dairy, which has championed it for more than two decades.