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Peak District ice cream firm's taste of success
A dairy farming family think they may have found the solution to low milk prices, after their ice cream won a prestigious food award in its first year of production.
The Marsden family were overjoyed after their Hope Valley Ice Cream claimed the Best Dairy Product title at the Bakewell Show.
Expert tasting judges awarded the Alice Robinson Memorial Trophy to John Marsden and his son Bob for their whisky and ginger ale flavour ice cream.
Bob said: "It is a real honour to win this award as we are still in our first year of production. It felt fantastic and we're all really chuffed.
"It's been quite depressing for dairy farmers for a while now, but this win has given us a bit of hope that we can carry on working cows," he said.
The Marsden family has reared cows in the Hope Valley for over 300 years, and Bob hoped the new ice cream venture would help them continue for at least another three centuries.
He said: "A lot of dairy farmers are doing it now because we've all been losing money since milk quotas were introduced in 1984.
"At Bakewell Show we were up against established companies like Bradwell's, but also three other local farms who have gone into ice cream production.
"We are all having to look for new ways to survive now," he added.
Hope Valley Ice Cream is sold at the Marsden's farm, in nine shops and tea rooms and on the farm's website.
It was awarded the Peak District National Park Authority's environmental quality mark earlier this year.
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Weather for Matlock
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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