Hello and welcome to The Ice Cream Farm! We are a family-friendly tourist attraction bursting with all the fun you need in Cheshire. You can count on us for a quick play and a scoop of your favourite Cheshire Farm ice cream.
The Fell family has been creating award-winning Cheshire Farm Ice Cream for over 30 years. As the business started to grow, people would visit the farm in order to purchase the delicious ice cream and with growing numbers, The Ice Cream Farm tourist attraction was born. The site, which sits adjacent to the Cheshire Farm Ice Cream production unit that supplies over 1000 pubs, restaurants and retail units throughout the UK, has expanded dramatically with time and currently attracts well over half a million visitors a year.
These huge visitor numbers makes it the most visited attraction of its kind in the North West. In addition to all of this, the site, which has recently had a £4 million redevelopment, is considered to contain the world’s largest purpose-built ice cream parlour and Europe’s largest sand and water play.
The new attractions offer a whole new flavour of activity. The ice cream parlour is the shining beacon at the epicentre of this exciting new development, with the fun open plan design, jaw-dropping serving counter and plush seating areas. The famous blue building that housed the previous parlour has been transformed into a 180-seater food and drink area, providing a bright and contemporary environment, as well as an exciting new menu.
From ‘Honeycomb Canyon’, a sensational sand and water play area that allows children of all ages and abilities to play, engage and explore whatever the British weather brings, to ‘Daisy’s Garden’, ‘Strawberry Falls’ and ‘Silvercone’ to name but a few. The Ice Cream Farm offers the same unique recipe that it always had, just with a whole new flavour of activity.
We’ve been creating award-winning Cheshire Farm Ice Cream at our Tattenhall site for over 30 years… take a look at how it all began!
Tom and Margaret Fell moved to Drumlan Hall Farm with their two sons Jonathan and Graeme. The introduction of Milk Quota restrictions led them to look for ways to add value to the excess milk that their 300 dairy cows were producing.
The Fells saw a gap in the market for ‘Real Dairy Ice Cream’. Part of the farm buildings were converted into a production area, with a small parlour for the public to purchase the ice cream straight from the farm.
In June of this year Cheshire Farm Ice Cream started production. A viewing gallery was built so customers could see the cows being milked and the ice cream parlour was doubled in size to cope with demand.
As the ice creams popularity increased, more and more businesses started to show interest in stocking Cheshire Farm Ice Cream. This demand was met with The Farms first delivery van.
Over the years, vacant farm buildings have been adapted to increase and improve facilities. It was in 2008 that a large refurbishment was undertaken including the creation of the soft play area, the party rooms and the Ice Cave for children’s parties.
Since the refurbishment three years previous, visitor numbers dramatically increased, as well as the length of time they were spending at The Farm. To ensure visitors were entertained, the Adventure Playground was installed.
Due to increasing visitor numbers of over 500,000 a year, the site was at capacity. Unless The Farm did something drastic, visitor numbers would have to be controlled in some way through the busier months.
The family wanted to maintain the core rural origins of the business while at the same time, incorporating new and innovative themed play equipment for all the family. This ultimately led to the whole new flavour of activity at The Ice Cream Farm.
As the years have passed, the Fell family has constantly reinvested in the ice cream production facility and the tourist attraction.
With plenty more ideas and inventions on the horizon, The Ice Cream Farm is an award-winning recipe of success in the Cheshire countryside.