THE wonderful thing about Lanchester Apple Juice is that not only does it taste of apples, but you can tell which apples it tastes of. Just as we choose different varieties of apple to eat, now we can choose them to drink as well.

Most commercial apple juice is a blend of all sorts of apples from all sorts of countries. Lanchester Apple Juice is all English, each batch made from a different variety of apple to give a completely different taste.

The sharpness of a Bramley, tempered with sweetness in Braeburn, or sweeter still with a Crispin, each of them individual and recognisable. And it all started by accident.

Jonathan and Dotty Benson farm at Knitsley near Lanchester, a small mixed farm and a lot of fruit, mainly sold as pick your own, everything from strawberries and redcurrants to asparagus and autumn raspberries.

"Two years it was a rotten summer," says Jonathan. "We had all this fruit that no one wanted to pick and which would get ruined by the rain if we left it." So they picked it themselves and decided to make it into juice. Soft fruits are traditionally mixed with apple juice, so they started hunting down apples to buy in bulk. It was a bit like a history lesson in apple growing. "So many apples now are grown for their looks. They all have to be the same size, and travel well and not bruise easily and have smooth skin. Well that's fine, but what about flavour?"

In small orchards he found apples, often from old, long forgotten varieties, that the growers couldn't sell to the big buyers. "The apples weren't necessarily all round or pretty, but they had wonderful flavour."

He started buying up what and where he could. He didn't blend them but kept them separate to preserve their individuality. Names like Green Newton, John Standish, Melrose, English Braeburn, Crispin and Sunset. What started as an accidental way to use up the raspberries has almost become a way of preserving rare breeds and turned apple juice drinkers into connoisseurs of the different flavours. "There are still a few places growing these and it would be a real shame if they vanished."

Their technique for making the juice is as simple and wholesome. "We press them, squeeze them and put the juice in bottles. That's it."

l Lanchester Fruit is at Irthingvale Farm, Knitsley. Tel: (01207) 505872. The Bensons regularly have a stall at various farmers' markets, including usually Chester le Street (first Tues); Barnard Castle (first Sat); Morpeth (first Sun); Hexham (2nd Sat); Durham (3rd Thurs). But best check first.

Andrew and Maria Henshaw found a farm, got married, moved in, all in the space of six weeks. That was five years ago, just about the worst time for anyone to get into farming. Plummeting prices, BSE scares, farmers going bankrupt - enough to put anyone off.

"We were pretty fed up. We'd take an animal to market and all we'd get was exactly the same as we'd paid for it as a calf, so a year or more's work and feed would be for nothing." But the young couple, both originally from farming families in Lancashire, were undeterred. Determined to farm in their own way, they decided to sell direct to their customers instead.

Which is why they have a shop on their farm, selling their own beef, pork and lamb. "We wanted to produce meat that tasted of meat," says Andrew. "Not the stuff that looks very nice but doesn't taste of anything."

Their beef is all heifer beef, from Aberdeen Angus and Herefords around 26 months old. "Some producers turn them round in just over a year, but that gives them no time to develop any flavour."

Their beasts are fed traditionally - grass, silage and potatoes to see them through the winter. The meat is hung for at least two weeks and is dark red with that fine marbling of fat that guarantees flavour.

While not organic, the animals are all bred to high welfare standards, pigs for instance have beds full of straw, room to move and are traditionally fed.

"We knew we were getting it right when a customer said he hadn't tasted pork like ours for 20 years."

As if the farm, the animals and the shop weren't enough to keep them busy, the couple also have two small children, three-year-old Jack and Rachel, five months.

"Jack's got very good at labelling sausages," says his mum, "which is why it's often easier to do it after he's gone to bed. It's nothing for us to be doing that at two in the morning."

All the meat in the shop is vacuum packed. They sell eggs from a neighbour and will do turkeys and ducks for Christmas. There are plans for a much bigger shop, with easier access. "All we want is to do a decent job. Raise the animals properly, don't rush things. That way you get meat that tastes the way it should," says Andrew.

Mainsgill Farm is on the A66, a few miles west of Scotch Corner, opposite the East Layton turning. Tel: (01325) 718385. Individual joints to freezer packs. The Henshaws will be at Darlington Farmers' Market today, Barnard Castle the first Saturday of the month and Richmond on November 25.

SPECIAL SHOPPING...

At Auckland Castle tomorrow and Sunday when Eurocraft - a group of regional craft makers and designers - will be holding their Christmas fair. It's a real chance to buy something unique and individual.

Among people exhibiting there are Steven Gregory, goldsmith and jeweller; Eddie and Margaret Curtis who make ceramics; Still Room Cosmetics who make 100 per cent natural products. There will also be boxes, designer knitwear, hand painted cushions, copper and silk pictures and more.

Admission times: 11am-5pm Saturday; 12-5pm Sunday. Normal Auckland Castle charges apply. There will be further fairs at Bede's World, Jarrow, on November 25 and 26 and at Durham Town Hall, part of the Durham Christmas Festival, on December 1, 2 and 3