NIGEL AKEHURST VISITS: DOWNSVIEW FARM << Over the year they have received a number of awards and were the proud winners of the Best Family-Run Dairy Farm and Leading Providers of High-Quality Ice Cream awards in the 2021 Food and Drink awards. I ask what flavours are their best sellers, to which Sarah replied: “Vanilla, followed by chocolate and then honeycomb.” They also offer a range of more exotic flavours and have plans to introduce a new style of gelato ice cream to supply restaurants before making it
available in smaller tubs. Watch this space.
COVID-19
Talking to Sarah and Ralph, it’s clear they are still recovering from the impact of Covid19. During the various lockdowns, orders to restaurants and cafés “fell off a cliff ” and still haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. They also took a hit on the wholesale price of their milk and were paid just eight pence a litre, although that has thankfully since recovered to a
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profitable level. Sarah added that the ice cream and processed milk had been supporting the farm for a number of years. With the stronger milk price, Ralph and John are in the process of increasing the herd size, which should be closer to 200 cows by the end of the year, with the aim of upping milk production.
FUTURE PLANS
Inspired by a trip to see a vending machine on a dairy farm in Peterborough, the business is planning to get one. Services and a concrete pad have already been installed at the end of their farm drive, which is ideally situated on the busy Laughton road. The vending machine will enable them to sell direct from the farm gate and will include flavoured milkshakes, a popular drink amongst the younger generation.