Seascale farmer Elizabeth Mawson is celebrating 12 years of her family's ice cream business, which has been providing treats to customers during lockdown.

Elizabeth and her husband Stephen live on a dairy farm in Seascale and 18 years ago decided to create Old Farm Dairy – a milk processing plant where they buy their own milk and sell it to doorsteps.

But with everyone buying semi-skilled milk, Elizabeth was left with too much double cream. “So we thought we needed to add value to this product and spoke to someone about selling ice cream,” she said.

Going to a course in Glasgow, the couple learnt from Italian chefs on how to make ice cream and how to use the ice cream making machines.

“I knew it was my dream to make ice cream," said Elizabeth. "I wasn’t going to be a stay-at-home farmer’s wife.”

With her ice cream parlour at the Bailey Ground Hotel along the seafront, Elizabeth adapted her business to suit the needs of the time.

She said: “Covid-19 has been hard because you had to reinvent yourself, but it’s been a good challenge and rewarding to see people coming out and supporting local businesses. It’s been really positive.”

When the Prime Minister announced that businesses were to close, Elizabeth said she had already made the decision to close with plans on how to help keep her business alive: “We made home deliveries our priority, sending essentials and supplies to residents, as well as checking in on those in more isolated areas and those who are vulnerable. We were really busy with that throughout lockdown and, at the end of May, decided to do some refurbishments to the shop.

“I realised I could change the business around – and we missed our customers and they were desperate to see us.”

And at the end of May last year, Elizabeth was able to take her ice cream trailer out for a spin, lovingly called the 'Moobile.' The 38-year-old was able to trade throughout the booming summer months.

“It was brilliant. People were so grateful to see us and enjoy our ice cream.”

Because of her success, Elizabeth is hoping to open another ice cream shop somewhere along the Cumbrian coast.

She added: “I want to say a big thank you to the ice cream team, Sarah, Louise and Annette – they have worked with me for years and worked their socks off this year.”