Ice ice baby

For a couple of hours on Monday afternoon I was the most popular person in the newsroom. Why? Well I'd returned from a trip to the magnificent Bluebells Dairy in Derby laden with tubs of their homemade ice cream for the reporters.

Bluebells is the subject of today's Food You Can Trust feature in the Derby Telegraph, and deservedly so.

I went to the Spondon dairy to meet owner Rosemary Brown and her family and find out more about their award-winning ice cream.

The ice cream made at Bluebells really is something to be proud of and is a brilliant example of what local food has to offer.

In fact, at a recent publicity event in the Houses of Parliament showcasing Derbyshire produce, the Prime Minister David Cameron apparently couldn’t get enough of their Nutty Ella flavour and MPs flocked to try the gin and tonic ice cream made especially for the event.

From field to fork – or in this case spoon – the Brown family do much of the ice cream production by hand, with the aid of a pasturiser and an ice cream maker bought with the help of a business grant, and the finished product really does qualify as artisan.

Bluebells ice cream looks and tastes so much more wonderful than mass-produced stuff. It’s lovingly presented, with hand-created swirls and toppings, and flavours include blueberry yogurt, lemon meringue, raspberry pavlova and tropical coconut.

Bluebells is a family business, with Rosemary’s husband Geoff taking care of the cattle, son Oliver creating the ice cream and daughters Henrietta and Lydia also playing a part.

The Brown family have been farming at the site since 1953, but decided to change from supplying milk to the dairy industry to making their own ice cream in 2008 because, as Rosemary puts it, "we considered lots of products, such as cheese, but as a family we love ice cream so we knew we could get really enthusiastic about it".

They now have about 130 friesian cows and milk about 110 each day. Geoff’s day usually start with milking at 6am and they finish on the farm about 7.30pm, but then there’s all the paperwork to attend to inside.

This Sunday is Open Farm Sunday – a national event where farms across the country will be opening their doors to the public.

Activities on offer at participating farms will include things farm tours, nature walks, milking demonstrations, sheep shearing and tractor and trailer rides.

Since opening Bluebells, the Brown family have gone from strength to strength and now offer a sand pit and play area, petting area with farm animals for children to meet, cafe and small farm shop.

They are a fantastic example of how farmers can help educated families about where their food comes from by opening their doors to the public.

For more read today's Derby Telegraph or visit our website.