Part two of our Championing Local Business series focuses on a local independent business with a whole lot of heart – The Little Ice Cream shop. Founded by Amy McPherson in 2016, the shop was initially opened as part of her plan to save up enough money to move to London and train as an actor. Little did she know that she had accidentally created the beginning of an ice cream empire. Soon after opening word spread and The Little Ice Cream Shop in Hawkshead had queues out the door - people were going crazy for her ice cream! Just two years later the empire expanded, and a second shop was opened in Windermere. Since then, the business has continued to grow in popularity and by utilising social media to showcase their tasty ice cream flavours, they have amassed over 11k followers on Instagram.
The Little Ice Cream Shop hand make over 40 flavours of delicious small batch, slow churned gelato in their Hawkshead shop, including our personal favourite – Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake! “Each day we spice it up and serve a mixture of 22 flavours to the lovely folk of the Lake District, UK. We also make some bangin’ sorbets and dairy free flavours too”. The Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake flavour contains mouth-watering chunks of our famous chocolate coated Kendal Mint Cake and is a favourite of many customers. We just love the fact a local independent business has created an ice cream flavour inspired by our original Kendal Mint Cake bars.
Amy chose to make gelato over ice cream as it is creamier, smoother and contains less fat which means you can enjoy your scoops guilt free! All the milk & cream used in the gelato is sourced from a local dairy in Windermere as they believe in supporting local businesses and that Cumbrian cows are the happiest! Gluten free and vegan options are also available, and they even produce special ice cream for dogs, meaning the scoops can be enjoyed by everyone!
Lots of exciting things have happened since the shop first opened, including the Cumbria Life Magazine ‘Readers Choice Award 2020’ and Olive Magazine ‘Best Artisan Ice-Cream Parlours in The UK’. The business has also received high praise on other prominent websites such as Lake Lovers, The Lake District org, Late Rooms.com and Lake District Life & Lancashire Life.
Amy now lives in London and is a professional TV actress, but you may see her behind the scenes in Hawkshead making ice cream until 2am in the season - not quite as glamorous as being on set!
If you would like to learn more about The Little Ice Cream shop then visit their website - https://www.thelittleicecreamshop.com/ or follow their fantastic Instagram account here - https://www.instagram.com/thelittleicecreamshop/
Photo credit - Sabrina (Romney's Kendal Mint Cake flavour - bottom right)
