CHRIS Berry talks with Adrian Harrison about Wensleydale Ice Cream and the new Hard Banks Ice Cream Parlour .

If you ’ re looking for the typical farming couple ’ s ‘ busman ’ s holiday ’ of popping up somewhere to see how another farming couple have diversified , maybe get a few pointers for yourself , or just simply to congratulate them on what they have achieved then I urge you to go and see Adrian and Gill Harrison ’ s new Hard Banks Ice Cream Parlour and Coffee Shop at Thornton Rust on the A684 between Aysgarth and Bainbridge .

It ’ s a fabulous barn conversion that they have undertaken in the middle of a field where they have put in a car park next to the A684 and a footpath up to the historic barn where they now sell their Wensleydale Ice Cream produced from their Jersey cows on Manor Farm up in the village of Thornton Rust .

‘ We started making ice cream about six or seven years ago ,’ says Adrian . ‘ We had a few problems getting planning approved with the National Parks Authority but after a long haul and a lot of battling we got it approved and tapped into a LEADER grant that really helped . The electrics cost a lot of money because there were none here and we had to get them in somehow , but we did everything and now we have this fantastic place .’

‘ We opened as a kind of soft opening on September 22 last year and we were open all winter . The idea was to get all of the teething problems out of the way before Easter and this summer hit . It worked really well and we

built up a good , steady trade during winter with offering ice cream , teas , coffees , cakes , and then Covid-19 came along .’

‘ We ’ ve done very well since we reopened , initially with a takeaway where we operated a one-way system that the barn leant itself to quite nicely .’

Adrian and Gill have no intention of turning this into something not in keeping with the area .

‘ We are in the middle of a National Park where we enjoy living and working . It doesn ’ t want to look like a fairground attraction . It ’ s a barn , set in a nice location where people can come and have an ice cream or a coffee and a bun . We need a regular throughput of people to make it flow . The barn can seat about 32 when we are not under Covid-19 restrictions and about 20 currently while we are .’

‘ It ’ s about quality local produce . I want people to come along and have a quality experience and then go . It ’ s not about putting up a children ’ s play area and our car park is only small , so we need the comings and goings to make it work .’

‘ We have a great team with usually four and maybe five on a Sunday . Gill now works here all the time along with Anne Gamble and John Hall with another couple of girls coming in for scooping .’

‘ The barn was built in 1796 and has been redundant for years . Cows were probably milked in here at one time and it more than likely housed around five cows with a hay loft above . It wasn ’ t falling down or anything like that . We reroofed it , pointed it , put windows in and from the outside it still looks like a barn .

We don ’ t have any flashing lights and gaudy signs . We have had a lady look into the history of the barn and there ’ s an interesting story about it that we have had made into a board just before you reach the barn .’

Prior to Hard Banks Parlour opening their Wensleydale Ice Cream was sold wholesale to hotels , pubs , cafés and tearooms and available to buy at shows such as Wensleydale Show .

‘ Gill ’ s relooked at that now and while we will stick with supplying our wholesale customers , we are not currently actively looking to take on any more now that Hard Banks is open . Wensleydale Ice Cream is available currently as far afield as Green Hammerton at Ainsty Farm Shop .’

Gill set up Wensleydale Ice Cream when , as Adrian says ‘ the wheels fell off ’ in terms of the Channel Island milk contracts .

‘ When we went back into dairying after being taken out as a contiguous cull during foot and mouth in 2001 we moved into Jerseys . My dad , Maurice , had set off with 30-40 Holstein Friesians when he ’ d started dairying .’

‘ I built up the Jersey herd for the next decade and did a lot of showing , where we were very successful . We had to change when the Channel Island milk contracts fell off , so we now milk only a small herd of 20-25 Jerseys that supply the milk for Wensleydale Ice Cream and have another 100 red and white Holsteins that stem from the Ayrshire cow putting in red and white Holstein blood .’

‘ We use all sexed semen and Belgian Blue semen . The majority of the herd go to the Belgian Blue for selling calves at 6-7 weeks old at Leyburn livestock market with a few also sold privately . All maiden heifers and a few cows go to sexed semen .’

‘ When we are not making ice cream the Jersey milk goes in the tank with the rest . We sell to ARLA who we went with 6 years ago . It ’ s the best thing I ever did really . ARLA are holding the price and as a member you get a bit out of it . We only use a small amount of milk for the ice cream which we make two days a week .’

‘ Our herd average for the red and whites is knocking on the door of 8000 litres with the Jerseys a bit less . We don ’ t push them . They get semi-TMR as they are grazed from April to October . We buffer feed them in the parlour .’

Adrian tells of how he and

Gill are trying , in common with many other farming families , to create enough work and income to support the next generation . They have a daughter Annabel ( 20 ) and son James ( 18 ).

‘ Where we live there isn ’ t much room for expansion on the dairy side , so we have looked at how we can add value to our milk . James is keen and has been studying at Newton Rigg . He ’ s now taking an advanced dairy management course . Annabel is studying midwifery at Newcastle , but could come down and run Hard Banks if she decided she ever wanted to do that . It ’ s set up for them both to do what they want .’

Adrian also employs a 21-year old Callum Spence who he took on as an apprentice 5 years ago and a relief milker , Peter Booth .

Adrian ’ s grandad Simon Robert Harrison bought Manor Farm that Adrian ’ s dad Maurice came to in the early 70s from Carlton in Coverdale where Adrian was born in 1971 .

‘ We moved here in 1972 when my mum ( Ann ) and dad had a bungalow built . It was a dairy and sheep enterprise when he first set off . Now it is purely dairy . We own around 163 acres and rent an additional 40 for grazing and cutting . The farm is in three blocks including Hard Banks .’

Go there ! The ice cream is fabulous , it ’ s a great location and Adrian and Gill are doing a marvellous job !