Tom Wallis' Goats' Milk Ice Cream, East Yorkshire

Tom Wallis’s farm in Cottingham, East Yorkshire produces award-winning goats’ milk cheeses. Goats’ milk ice cream was a natural progression, especially as his customers were asking for him to produce a wider range of products.

Tom met us at the Ice Cream Alliance show in 2001. We helped him with his diversification venture and supplied him with all the equipment he needed.

He shares our philosophy of keeping flavours as natural as possible and is constantly developing new flavours. Tom keeps his own bees and has two honey ice creams, regular Honey and Heather Honey (which tastes like cinder toffee). He makes bilberry, coconut, white chocolate and apricot and brandy flavours. Others include Raspberry Swirl, which uses locally made raspberry jam and a Vanilla, gently turned through with dark chocolate chips. “Swirling in the extra ingredients produces a double impact flavour experience,” he explains.

Tom sells 4 litre containers of his ice cream to hotels and restaurants (including some Michelin-starred ones!). Consumers can buy litre boxes or 100gram cartons from his farm shop or from the markets he regularly attends. “RSS supplied me with a glass topped ice cream cabinet which sits in my trailer and is ideal for market days,” he says.

Tom can easily sell 120 litres of ice cream in a day, putting it on equal footing with the cheeses. “Though I expect it might soon overtake them – we have just added sorbets and sherbets to our ice cream menu and I expect sales to soar.”

What's more as reported in the Daily Mail newspaper on February 1 2007, the Duchess of Cornwall has developed a liking for Tom and Trish Wallis’s ice cream. Camilla had tasted the ice cream on a personal visit to the farm in Cottingham, East Yorkshire and has since placed further orders to be delivered direct to Highgrove. We wish Tom and Trish much success that this royal approval can only bring.