We have just received our most prestigious award to date. The unique Heather Honey Ice Cream has won the joint silver award for Best UK Food product in the Daily Telegraph Taste of Britain Awards - sponsored by Sainsbury’s, these awards are probably the most sought after food accolades in the Britain.

The ice cream, which is made at our family farm on the Northumbrian Border, uses local honey from bee keeper Willy Robson, at the Chainbridge Honey Farm on the River Tweed. The honey gives the ice cream a very distinctive flavour, sophisticated and complex, yet natural. It's hand made, very similar to the way you'd make ice cream at home. We use milk from our own cows and we don't use any additives or colouring. We have three young children and we don't like giving them food that's full of additives, so why put it in our products? The final addition is Willy’s honey, just before it’s frozen.

We're so proud of the links that we have built with local Northumbrian producers like Willy. We couldn’t produce ice creams without partnerships like this – fortunately, Northumberland has so many to choose from. When we work together, we put both ourselves and the region on the map.

Our other local flavours include Alnwick Rum Truffle, Newcastle Brown Ale, and Pineapple Sage, produced especially for The Sage in Gateshead.

It is not just in the flavours of ice creams, that we've been innovative with, with our flower flavours of ice cream, we had a very sophisticated, beautiful product so we designed some very sophisticated packaging, in royal blue, almost like a jewellery gift box. It's something you could take to a dinner party instead of a bottle of wine. We created it ourselves with the help of a local design firm, which shows you don't always need a big marketing team and a huge budget.

The Taste of Britain award gives us confidence and credibility, and confirms we’re doing the right thing and it’s not only for us, but also for thousands of Willy’s bees.