15 Places to Get the Best Locally-made Ice Cream and Gelato in the North East and Yorkshire
We've picked out the super scoops you need to try
Di Meo’s
With four generations of experience creating small batch, hand-made ice cream and sorbet, award-winning Di Meo’s are masters of all things gelato. Following a secret family recipe which dates back to 1925, their pure and authentic gelato is churned onsite every day and with parlours in Whitley Bay and Ouseburn, as well as a Lido on the Northern Promenade, there are so many opportunities to try their delicious scoops.
Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay NE26 1LX
0191 252 3814
Pilgrims Gelato
With a family that suffers from a mixture of food intolerances, Charlotte and Farah made it their mission to create seriously tasty vegan gelato free from everything but flavour, and their dairy-, gluten-, lactose- and egg-free ice cream is delicious. Flavours include Pilgrims Coffee Espresso Iced Latte, Raspberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Brownie Mudslide, Sea Salt Blue Vanilla Shake and Candied Double Ginger Delight. Meanwhile, sustainability is also high on their agenda, whether that’s using completely recyclable aluminium tins or providing an edible spoon with each pot. Find them at their gelato parlour on Holy Island.
Marygate, Holy Island TD15 2SJ
01289 389356
Spurreli
In the seaside town of Amble, Spurreli is a boutique ice cream parlour and coffee shop serving award-winning hand-crafted Northumbrian dairy ice cream and sorbet, produced using milk and cream from the pedigree herd of Ayrshire and Short Horn cows at Marley Cote Walls Farm near Hexham. They also produce vegan, dairy- and gluten-free ice cream and there are loads of amazing flavours to choose from. Current favourite? It’s a close-run thing between lime and coconut and rum and raisin.
The Old Chandlery, Coquet Street, Amble NE65 0DJ
01665 710890
Beckleberry’s
This award-winning, family business has been making ice cream for more than 20 years and is jam-packed with Northern know-how. Their ethos is all about putting great taste and textures at the heart of everything they do. Always going the extra yard you will find everything from chocolate orange and liquorice and blackcurrant ice cream, to passionfruit and tarragon sorbet.
Cowen Road, Blaydon NE21 5TW
0191 414 1180
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Giacopazzi’s
This award-winning fish and chip restaurant and ice cream parlour is a long established, family-run business based in the seaside town of Eyemouth. No trip to the Scottish Borders would be complete without a visit to Giacopazzi's to enjoy their multi-award winning ice creams and sorbets, all made fresh on the premises, and on any given day there is a wide range of both traditional and original flavours to choose from.
Harbour Road, Eyemouth TD14 5HU
01890 750317
Morwick Dairy
Using traditional techniques, the Howie family have developed special recipes and flavours to bring back the true taste of farmhouse dairy ice cream. Quality and freshness are priorities here, with the ice cream made in small batches using their own fresh full cream milk and the finest ingredients. Boasting a selection of 16 flavours, including tiramisu and Eton mess, head to their parlour on the working farm to try some of the mouth-watering combinations.
Morwick Farm, Acklington NE65 9DG
01665 711210
Scoop & Bean
With more than 36 flavours on offer, Scoop & Bean’s menu is split into the classics: chocolate, nutty, toffee, fruity and ‘something a bit different’. If you’re feeling adventurous the latter includes flavours such as cookie monster, Iron Bru, jelly bear, gingerbread and Turkish delight. With half scoops available for the kids, as well as puppachino ice cream for your four-legged friends, there’s something for the whole family here.
Sea Road, South Shields NE33 2LD
Doddingtons
Doddington Dairy is on a family farm in the Glendale Valley and the Maxwells have been dairy farmers here for more than 50 years. Against a background of falling milk prices the family started to experiment with ice cream recipes and, realising that they could actually produce superb flavours, Doddington Dairy Ice Cream was launched in 2000. Ever since, they’ve been involved in the whole ice cream making process, from feeding and milking the cows, through to hand selecting and mixing the ingredients, then to packaging and delivering the ice cream. Find it at the Milk Bar, Wooler or at stockists regionwide.
11 South Road, Wooler NE71 6QE
01668 282357
Amorino
Created by two childhood friends, Amorino’s objective is to make the highest quality, traditional artisanal Italian gelato as naturally as possible, with no artificial colours or flavourings. They are best known for their flower cones – gelato served like the petals of a flower, allowing multiple flavours per cone. Amorino offer interesting flavour combinations such as blueberry and açaí, or lime and basil, and even their more classic flavours specify where the ingredients have come from, such as a pure origin Ecuador chocolate and raspberry from Chile.
Victoria Gate, George Street, Leeds LS2 7HY
0113 245 5333
Archer’s Jersey Ice Cream
The Archer family have been farming in the Durham-Tees Valley since 1976, and now the third generation have stepped up to help run the farm and two ice cream parlours. Their range of award-winning luxury artisan ice cream is produced from their very own Jersey cows’ milk which, because it is high in fat and protein, makes deliciously creamy products. Using local fruit where possible, as well as other local ingredients such as fudge and honey, they combine traditional techniques of ice cream production with seasonal ingredients to create their legendary ice cream and ice cream cakes.
New Moor Farm, Walworth DL2 2UD
01325 300336
The Station, Richmond DL10 4DL
O1748 823367
Yorvale
Based in York, Yorvale products have been made on the Fossfield Farm for more than 30 years, with the milk from their small herd of Friesian cows being transported less than 100 metres across the farmyard to the dairy, where it is mixed with carefully-selected natural ingredients to produce their delicious ice cream and sorbets. Yorvale’s flavours range from a classic vanilla pod dairy ice cream to a unique mango and coconut plant-based offering, as well as alcoholic sorbets with flavours including Champagne.
Acaster Malbis, York, YO23 2XA
01904 706702
LICC
The Luxury Ice Cream Company, aka LICC, is a small family-run business in the heart of York offering a selection of authentic Italian gelato and sorbets made on-site. Since opening in 2010 they have amassed more than 600 flavour creations, including traditional vanilla, pear or chocolate, as well as more daring flavours such as blue cheese, marmite or avocado. Not only that, they also cater for four-legged friends with doggy gelato served in a tub with a dog biscuit on the top.
20 Back Swinegate, York YO1 8AD
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Mr Moos
In 2003, the owners of Southfield House Farm went from milking cows to scooping ice cream and they haven’t looked back since, producing a top-quality ice cream using local ingredients. They now source milk and cream from Chestnut Dairies, who collect fresh milk from East Yorkshire farms every day, and Mr Moos offer more than 30 delicious flavours including apple crumble, banoffee, orange marmalade and salted caramel.
Southfield House Farm, Skipsea, East Yorkshire YO25 8SY
01262 469829
Groovy Moo
Michelle Walker has been in the ice cream business for decades, previously running a successful parlour with her late husband Sean. The couple dreamed of creating their own scoops, as they struggled to locally source high quality ice-cream. While Sean never got to see the launch of Groovy Moo, his legacy lives on in their traditional artisanal gelato. Made using local ingredients, they stock up to 24 flavours at any one time, including familiar favourites, seasonal recipes and experimental concoctions. Hand mixing, churning and batch freezing at a slower rate means less air is trapped inside, and this makes Groovy Moo gelato silkier, denser and packed with more flavour than other ice creams.
3 Talbot Yard, Yorkersgate, Malton YO17 75F
01653 228090
Our Cow Molly
Located in the small village of Dungworth, Our Cow Molly handmake ice cream using milk and cream from their own farm. Whether you get a cone in the parlour, sit on a bench outside to devour a scoop while enjoying the view, or a grab a litre tub from their ice cream vending machine to take home with you, there are so many flavours to choose from. As well as all the classics, some more original flavours include panna cotta, Bakewell tart and Ferrero Rocher.
Cliffe House Farm, Hill Top Road, Dungworth S6 6GW
0114 233 2683
