East Warren
Follow Route 100 north along the spine of the Green Mountains to East Warren, where Larry and Linda Faillace's Three Shepherds of the Mad River Valley (42 Roxbury Mountain Rd., Warren; 802-496-4559) uses cow's and sheep's milk from valley farms. "Our sheep's milk feta is creamy, not crumbly—it's like the feta made in the Balkans," says Larry. The Faillaces also make sheep's milk "Montagne," a hard pecorino variety, and soft-ripened "Cosmos," flavored with herbes de Provence. From April to October, Three Shepherds offers three-day cheesemaking classes (a bonus is the panoramic view of the Mad River Valley). Another plus is the on-site Schoolhouse Market, where you can provision a picnic not only with cheese, but with locally made breads, pâtés, and fresh fruit.

Middlebury
Climb over Vermont's cordillera via the hairpin turns of Lincoln Gap, descending into the rich pastures of the Champlain Valley to reach Route 7. Head north on 7 through the college town of Middlebury, where the Vermont State Craft Center at Frog Hollow (1 Mill St.; 802-388-3177) exhibits and sells jewelry, glassware, furniture, textiles, pottery, and other work by Vermont artisans. A good lunch or dinner stop in Middlebury is the Storm Café (3 Mill St.; 802-388-1063), located on the banks of Otter Creek.

Shelburne Farms
The complex cheddars at Shelburne Farms (1611 Harbor Rd., Shelburne; 802-985-8686; www.shelburnefarms.org) have a Gilded-Age pedigree. This was the Frederick Olmsted-landscaped family compound of railroader Dr. William Seward Webb, who ran it as a model farm more than a century ago. It's now an agricultural and environmental education center where you can watch cheesemaker Jaime Yturriondobeitia and her staff craft cheddar in one of the property's vast, turreted barns. The process includes the actual process of "cheddaring," stacking great slabs of freshly made cheese so its own weight presses out unwanted whey. Brown Swiss cows luxuriate on these privileged acres, which are accessible to visitors via 8 miles (13 kilometers) of footpaths winding toward the pristine Lake Champlain shoreline. There are guided tours that take in Dr. Webb's immense breeding barn; a Children's Farmyard; and the Inn at Shelburne Farms for dining and overnight stays.