Ice Cream... Yummy! (Cheshire Ice Cream Farm)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	Cheshire Ice Cream Farm
Date:	28/08/08 (180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entry is Free, Lots to do & Ice Cream is Cheap.

Disadvantages: Can get very busy.

Over the bank holiday weekend my friend and I decided to do some exploring of the local countryside and see what we could find to entertain ourselves. After abandoning the car in a little car park and completly tiring ourselves out walking around many country roads we decided we needed some refreshments and at that moment managed to come across a sign for Cheshire Ice Cream Farm. As neither of us had been there before we decided to go and have a look... and eat some ice cream!

Cheshire Ice Cream Farm is located in a place called Tattenhall which is found within Chester in the north west county of Cheshire. The easiest way to get there is to find the A41 Chester / Whitchurch road and to follow the brown tourist signs which are located all over the place. It's located about ten minutes from several other tourist attractions including Beeston Castle and The Candle Workshop so there are a few other things to do in the immediate area as well as visiting the farm.

The Fells first bought the farm back in 1980 and in 1986 opened a small ice cream parlour where the general public could go to and buy ice cream. In the 1990s a viewing gallery was built so that the public could see the cows being milked and the ice cream being made as well. Since then the farm has simply grown with the demand for the ice cream, the farm is now capable of producing 1,000 litres of ice cream per hour and needs this to supply customers and over 700 local businesses that it supplies as well.

Ice Cream Parlour

The ice cream parlour is obviously the main attraction at the ice cream farm itself and was certainly bursting with customers when we visited. The parlour occupies a large room on the right hand side of the farm and the entrance half is filled with seating, there is also plenty of additional seating outside the parlour as well. To the back are the two serving counters and when we visited there were two seperate queues for each of the counters which were actually extending out of the doors!

There are over thirty flavours of ice cream made at the farm and there is certainly something to suit everyone. Flavours include vanilla with pod, strawberries and cream, chocolate, banana, coconut, stem ginger, white choc chunk, rhubarb and custard, baileys, butterscotch, malt tease, ferrero rocher and pistachio to name just a few! The farm also produces and sells diabetic ice cream in several flavours and all the ice creams are suitable for vegetarians as they contain no animal fats.

There are a range of serving options for the ice cream; you can either have it in a plain cone, a double cone, a chocolate coated cone or a tub to name just a few. Prices were actually quite reasonable as my friend and I both had a double cone with two different flavours in and this came to £4.00, single cones were about £1.50 and tubs were about £1.70 if my memory serves me correctly! The people in the queue in front of us had about six people in their party and all their ice creams came to £14.00.

I had the vanilla with pod and also the white choc chunk in my double cone and they were both delicious. The vanilla with pod was quite light and refreshing whereas the white choc chunk was truly indulgent, really creamy and rich with big chunks of white chocolate in. My friend had the chocolate and the malt tease and said they were equally yummy although she did feel a little sick after it as you do get huge servings of the ice cream.

Although it was really busy when we visited the ice cream parlour and the queues were about ten deep we managed to get served within about ten minutes as there did seem to be about eight girls working behind the counter. The staffing levels were brilliant as this meant the queues disappeared quite quickly and you didn't have to wait too long to be served. The only problem was that there didn't seem to be anybody clearing the tables which meant you either had to clear them yourself or put up with a bit of rubbish.

Tea Room & Gift Shop

The tea room is located next to the ice cream parlour as you enter the site. The menu included a range of sandwiches, toasties, children's snacks, cakes and beverages so all quite basic but all you'd really expect from a place like this. We didn't actually buy anything from here but the sandwiches did look quite appetising and fresh and all the prices were quite cheap. You could have easily fed and watered a family of four for around £15.

There was a small seating area located within the tea shop and once you'd ordered your food at the counter you could sit here and wait for it to be served to you. There was also plenty of additional seating outside opposite the ice cream parlour and there was also a seperate picnic area at the front of the site with wooden benches where you could eat any food you'd purchased on the premises. There did seem to be a shortage of available seating when we visited but again I think this was due to the fact that it was so busy as it was bank holiday.

The gift shop is also located within the tea room area and contains your typical purchases that often appeal to children including pencils, pens, tea towels, cuddly toys, etc. You could also buy a range of food options such as cheeses and preserves which did actually look quite yummy. Again it all seemed to be priced fairly reasonably but we didn't choose to buy anything. My only feel of the whole place was that it could do with updating slightly as it was somewhat old fashioned.

Animal Corner

Towards the back of the farm was the animal corner which consisted of three main barns. The first one was quite small and housed a selection of guinea pigs and rabbits including some cute little baby rabbits. The second barn housed the cows and you could actually go and see them being milked at certain times of the day which did seem quite popular with children. Lastly there was a further barn which housed llamas, goats and minature donkeys.

As well as all your typical animals there was also a Falcon Centre located at the front of the farm which included falcons, hawks and owls. This was quite nice to walk around as they were all safely caged and we spent a good twenty minutes looking at them all. If you are interested in birds of prey then the farm also offers some experience days whereby you can go and learn to fly and get hands on with the various birds they have there.

Play Area

There's an indoor play barn and a large wooden play area for children to play in, these aren't supervised by staff members so parents do need to keep an eye on their children while they're playing here.

Parking

There is a small car park directly next to the ice cream farm although this was only big enough for about sixteen cars. There is a much larger car park directly opposite the farm in a field which could easily hold about one hundred cars. In addition to this when we visited cars were parked along the grassy verges on either side of the road leading up to the farm.

Opening Times

1st April - 31st October - 10.00am - 5.30pm daily
1st November - 31st March - 10.30am - 5.00pm daily

Conclusion

We spent over an hour here last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it, we both said we'd certainly go back if only to pop in for a quick ice cream as we enjoyed them so much! You can also buy tubs of ice cream to take home and since I've visited my mum has cursed me for not having bought her one! There are no charges involved with visiting here unless you choose to purchase an ice cream or any food. If you have small children you could easily spend a couple of hours here by the time you look at all the animals, have an ice cream and thoroughly experience all the play areas! It's well worth a visit, especially in nice weather and best of all there is no cost involved!

For more information have a look at:

http://www.cheshirefarmicecream.co.uk

Thanks for reading.

Summary: An ice cream farm located near Chester in Cheshire.