The brilliant ice cream farm with mini Rovers for kids to drive this Easter holidays
Families are flocking to this ice cream farm this Easter - where kids can also jump on board mini Rovers
The glorious sunny weather of recent weeks has seen a popular ice cream farm record its busiest ever day of sales. And it's not hard to see why young and old love to head to Bidlea Dairy Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire.
The ice cream farm is nestled in rolling countryside, with stunning views across the fields to the iconic Jodrell Bank telescope.
But despite the rural location, it's only four miles off the M6 at Junction 18, and with a main line train station down the road at Goostrey, so it's pretty accessible for people to get to.
The ice cream farm is one of the newest in the region, having first opened in 2021. It soon gained an army of fans thanks to its array of 80 different rotating ice cream flavours and seating areas boasting incredible views of one of Cheshire's most famous landmarks, Jodrell Bank.
On Sunday, the ice cream farm recorded their busiest EVER day, thanks in part to the glorious weather, and also due to a special Springtime event they're running on weekends in the run up to Easter.
The Springtime events continue on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week and next weekend, although tickets are already sold out for those dates.
But the ice cream farm is open and ready to welcome visitors on weekdays across the Easter holidays. If you're heading out-of-hours, they also have 24 hour milk and ice cream vending manchines at the farm.
And there's a cute attraction for those heading with kids - a track with mini Land Rovers that kids aged four to 10 can drive for themselves.
The Mini Off-Rovers experience is priced at £7 for one lap, or £10 for two laps (per vehicle) - but be warned kids won't be able to get enough of it once they realise they really are driving a mini motor around the track.
The farm has plans to make the off-road driving experience a more permanent feature across the summer too. It is booked to be at Bidlea every day now until Good Friday, April 18.
For the farm's owners, the ongoing success of the venture is still hard to process.
Bidlea's Adam Brown says: "We've been getting so many new customers and it's a bit like, where have you heard about us?
"On Sunday we had our busiest ever day, and 50 per cent of customers I asked had never been before. We know we are well known in the local area now, but we had people coming from Birmingham, from North Wales, and a lot from Manchester it's crazy really."
The diversification into ice cream was a true turnaround story at The Orchards Farm, which is run by Ray and Jill Brown and their son's Adam and Ryan and their wives, both called Becky.
Over a decade ago the Brown family were witnessing what looked like a critical decline for dairy farming with supermarkets offering their lowest ever price for their cow's milk at 16p a litre.
So they decided to start processing and pasteurising their own milk with the creation of an adjoining dairy on Twemlow Lane - with milk pumped over the road by a supply line straight from the free range pedigree cows into the dairy to produce fresh milk 24 hours later, supplied to local farm shops and wholesalers.
It would be a fortuitous decision, and when lockdown came into force in March 2020, demand for fresh milk surged and Bidlea partnered with local delivery surfaces across Cheshire to get their product direct to customers.
They've now gone from a herd of 25 cows to 330 and have surged from supplying 2,000 litres a week before lockdown, to now 40,000 litres every week.
And the idea to do ice cream came as another knock-on from lockdown.
Adam, 37, who runs the dairy side of the business with wife Becky, 33, said: "The only reason we started with ice cream is because when all the pubs and restaurants had to close we were having to pour a lot of our cream down the drain.
"We thought why don't we do something with it and the idea for ice cream was born. We saw an opportunity, and now, well it's just gone crazy."
They invested in ice cream equipment and started to experiment with flavours before launching their product just five months ago.
And just via word of mouth and social media, crowds began to flock to the farm for the artisan ice cream.
There's now fridges where you buy all of Bidlea's dairy range including milk, creams, yoghurts and full size tubs of ice cream. There's also the rather unique outdoor milk stations and 24 hour milk and ice crean vending machines.
You can choose from a raft of daily changing flavours of ice cream, with 24 on offer each day from a full roster of 80. Expect the likes of Biscoff, birthday cake, bubblegum and mint choc chip - with single scoops for £2.90, double scoops for £3.90 or go large with a triple scoop for £5.
They also do Bidlea ice cream milkshakes with your choice of two flavours for £6, while in the cafe you can get a full range of hot and cold drinks, as well as light bites like cheese toasties for £3.95, homemade soup for £4.50 or bacon and sausage bap for £4.50.
And there's even a lactose-free DOG Ice cream available for those with four-legged friends who are welcome at the farm.
They are making the most of the farm's stunning views across the Cheshire countryside and to the local landmark of Jodrell Bank, with the cafe's outdoor area and upper seating platform all boasting stunning views of the iconic telescope.
Adam said: "We are so lucky with our spot here and having such a beautiful local landmark close by."
The ice cream farm also now rents ground on its site to Holmes Chapel Zoo, which won planning permission last year to host a permanent site at the farm.
They host the likes of meerkats, lizards and owls, and are hosting a series of open days before fully opening to the public later this year.
Bidlea Dairy Ice Cream Farm is open every day from 9am to 5pm, find them on Twemlow Lane, near Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8DS. It's free entry and free parking at the ice cream farm and cafe, but other attractions like the zoo and mini rovers have additional fees.