Looking back on how Cumbrians enjoy their ice cream

Harry and Isabella Asquith have an ice cream with mum Cara and pet Rocky as they wait for the children's races to start at the Wasdale Show in 2016

Ice cream is now so commonplace that it might surprise people to learn that it has its roots in aristocracy.

Enjoying their ice cream despite the shower were twins Grace and Ffion Naylor, age five, at the Whitehaven film festival 2015

In fact, it was quite the fancy feast for some of the more grossly privileged members of society before freezers were a thing.

Customers Karen Jollie and Helen Dickinson from Silloth, tuck into Cumbria's biggest knickerbocker glory at the Fairy Dust Emporium in Silloth, 2015

Back when ice couldn't just be made by machines in the kitchen, it had to be imported from colder parts of the country, and that was in huge blocks so that by the time it got back to whoever bought it, it didn't melt too much.

The pony has his eye on that ice cream! Hesket Newmarket Show 1969

By this time it was still mostly melted and the test of the most loyal of cooks or servants was to make this ice cream by hand, which is a task no one should bother to try even for authenticity's sake.

Ice cream salesman Danny McCall and his boss Ralph Luchini. Taken some time in the 1970s

It was often served as a dessert during the 18th century for the aristocracy when there was said to be a craze for it, after extravagant and audacious meals.

Brough Castle Ice Cream Parlour's Hannah Shuttleworth with her daughter Gabrielle try out the Lake District Winter Wonderland ice cream made with Lakeland cheddar ice cream in 2014

You had to know you wanted ice cream well in advance so the kitchen hand could prepare their forearms just in time for the dessert to be sufficiently aerated and chilled to eat.

Ewanrigg Primary School student Callum Todd tucks into his ice cream which was given out free to all pupils after Christina Gray, dinner lady, left in 2016

And God help you if you wanted any more, you'd have to wait until the next ice shipment!

In America, it's reminded to schoolkids as a 'fun fact' that the first president George Washington enjoyed ice cream as a way to make him seem affable or in touch with the common man, ironically though it would appear this was quite the opposite.

Ice cream time for Cara Jeffrey, age 4, at the Maryport family fun day on the harbour in 2016

So thankful should we be now that it's available all year round and especially in the hotter months, even from the park itself.

Long queue for the ice cream van at Agri Expo 2014

Thanks to the later period of the industrial revolution making freezer technology more commonplace, something that originated in obscurity and inaccessibility is now a staple that bridges classes and creeds, and that's something we can all enjoy.