Cow's that? Ice and easy way to a taste of the country

He’s back 15 minutes later with cow up to his elbows but don’t worry – that is not one of his flavours!

Eddie wasn’t making ice cream that day.

The new dairy ice cream called Our Cow Molly has just come on the market at selected stores in Sheffield.

There’s been no advertising, apart from a non-functioning web site, T-shirt and stickers with a baby pink logo but news has travelled by word of mouth.

For the three generations the Andrew family at Cliffe House Farm, high on a hill at Dungworth, have kept dairy cattle and sold their milk on the doorsteps of nearby Stannington.

Grandfather Hector, now 81, took over the farm in 1947 and on January 1 the following year started the round, selling just 20 gallons a day.

Today there are 1,000 customers who take almost one-third of the milk from the farm’s 80 cows, mostly Holsteins. The rest goes to the Diary Farmers of Great Britain, “held to ransom by the supermarkets,” growls Graham Andrew, Hector’s son, who runs the farm with his wife Thelma.

Cliffe House gets 10p a pint for its milk. It costs more to produce it so, like many others, the family have been trying to find ways to diversify and survive.

They’ve come up with the ice cream, a rich, thick, creamy, dense confection in four flavours including vanilla and strawberry. “One woman rang up and said it was just like she remembered as a girl,” says Thelma.

The family had seen ice cream making demonstrated at a farming event and been struck by the enthusiasm of the people involved. But they did nothing until son Eddie finished college after training as an agricultural engineer.

With a wife, Madeline, and now baby daughter Cora, he wanted to come home but there was not enough work. Once there were seven dairy farms in the area, now there are just two. Ice cream seemed the answer.

Eddie took an intensive training course from the suppliers of the equipment who helped with the recipes.

“It was incredibly difficult trying to balance the recipes. We wanted to use plenty of cream but there’s a limit or it separates,” he explains

In fact the ice cream uses 19 per cent cream and 53 per cent milk which accounts for its wonderfully creamy taste.

The family made themselves popular by inviting 100 people to a tasting session which lasted all weekend and were delighted the ones they liked came top.

It’s been a 60,000 investment, says Graham, with a 30 per cent grant from South Yorkshire Business Link and money from Growing Roots.

They started production a month ago and ran into the wettest July ever which hit sales but now people are getting ringing up wanting to stock it.

The ice cream, also sold at the farm gate (see below), got its name from an advertising jingle Graham made up for milk delivery leaflets.

“I wrote ‘Don’t put it in your supermarket trolley, buy your milk from our cow Molly,’” he says.

It’s a family affair. Another son, Daniel, delivers the milk with Thelma and his Uncle David, while Eddie’s other brother Chris, an electrician, helped with the installation.

The logo was designed by Madeline’s brother-in-law back in Ireland.

“We are very lucky to have had so much help from our family and friends, reflect Eddie.

They are growing steadily and the herd will change to include more Jerseys but they don’t want to be too big.

“I wouldn’t mind a request from a supermarket to sell it,” says Eddie.

“So we can tell them to bugger off after screwing us all these years,” says his dad.

n Sold from Cliffe Cottage, Hill Top Lane, Sundays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Details on 0114 233 2683 or www.ourcowmolly.co.uk