Purbeck Ice Cream
Purbeck Ice Cream was born over 30 years ago from a need to diversify our family dairy farm. My husband Peter and I, with our three very young boys in tow, were running a 60 Friesian herd on 126 acres of lush hillside overlooking Corfe Castle, in the heart of Dorset. The Isle of Purbeck is renowned for its outstanding natural beauty, and in summer the area fills with visitors enjoying the countryside, beaches and dramatic coastal hills.
When milk quotas made it impossible to keep the farm viable, we had to find a new way to use our lovely milk without penalties or competing with local businesses. Alongside the occasional pub crawl, we’d developed a passion for ice cream crawls – so making our own felt like a natural next step. But we were determined to do it properly: no artificial additives, no added colours, and absolutely no “fairy-liquid green” mint.
We began in a converted building next to the dairy – one of us milking and skimming cream, the other batching small tubs. Today, our ice cream is still made on our farm in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, using 60% whole milk and 22% double cream. It’s free from gluten, eggs and nuts, with no added colours or additives – Since then we have started up 2 sister companies as well which are Purbeck Chocolate and Pawbeck (Our dog ice cream).
Don’t take our word for it, here’s what some of our customers say…
“Having been wholesalers of Purbeck Ice Cream for the past 10 years, we have to say they are a brilliant company to work with! They provide an amazing variety of innovative flavours in their scooping range for restaurants and leisure sites and some very classy point of sale to help sell their lovely ice cream and sorbets.”
Nita Barker, Stratford Fine Foods
“Tried Purbeck on a whim… now it’s a permanent feature in our freezer. Proper creamy and every flavour just tastes real. It’s very moreish.”
Janet, Dorchester
“My son is allergic to gluten and nuts, and finding treats he can enjoy is often tiring. When we came across Purbeck Ice Cream at the Chalk Valley History Festival, he was absolutely over the moon! Now, wherever we find it, we take the opportunity to stock up. Thank you for making ice cream that tastes amazing and is available for everyone.”
Sally, Shaftesbury, Dorset
