Salcombe Dairy began making Devonshire ice cream in 1979, founded by Peter and Tricia Howard who championed slow food before it was even invented. The ice cream recipes they created - using fresh milk from the local farm and the very best ingredients - are still as popular today as they were over forty three years ago.
In recent decades Salcombe Dairy has been in the nurturing hands of the Boscawen and the Bly families, who are as enthusiastic about artisan food and traditional dairy ice cream as anyone on the planet!
The barrow loads of Awards that pile in for Salcombe Dairy products every year are testament to the dedicated team who innovate continuously, and taste regularly (be rude not to) to ensure whatever we make in our factory is unquestionably the very best of the bunch.
Time and trends have raced on, and the Dairy is now renowned for making utterly scrumptious non-dairy ice creams and sorbets too, ensuring everyone can enjoy indulgent ices. Our factory, and everything we make in it, is nut free, gluten free and egg free.
Salcombe Dairy has witnessed many food trends come and go in the past forty plus years. Some things though, never really change. Families and friends enjoying the South Hams coast and choosing to enjoy naturally pure ice cream as a treat seems to be one of the simplest and happiest pleasures we are proud to make happen. We are a trusted brand, because our customers know that we only put natural ingredients into everything we make.
In recent years we have moved away from being a seasonal employer - to a sustainable one - because we make a winter product (chocolate) as well as a summer product (ice cream) so our versatile team are always kept busy and employed year round.
Bean-to-bar chocolate is our new baby - and just like our ice cream has already won both local and international awards for great taste and flavour. A trip to Peru to source the very best cacao beans led us to make exquisite chocolate, again using only the very best organic, fairly traded cacao nibs from the centre of the bean to gain that all important burst of flavour that Salcombe Dairy is famous for.
Our team and our customers are passionate about flavour. Some of our recipes take years to perfect before we’re happy with them. In the summer of 2022 we opened a brand new chocolate factory in Island Street where customers can see our chocolate, The Bar, being made.
Named after the sand bar at the entrance to the Salcombe Estuary, our chocolate is painstakingly crafted into bars, hand spun Easter eggs and advent calendars.
As a company based within a few metres of the Salcombe Estuary, and can see the tides ebb and flow from our windows, we’re reminded every day that we need to leave lighter footprints in our environment.
We’ve switched to green energy, and all of our packaging is fully compostable or reusable, as well as locally sourced whenever possible. All of our chocolate packaging is designed and made in South Devon.
We believe paying a bit more for something and keeping our rural economy flourishing is important. In our shops and cafe’s we only use compostable take away cups. We are constantly striving to make our factory more energy efficient, and less wasteful. Our aim is to tread lightly and not leave a legacy of debris behind us.
Salcombe Dairy is part of the community in which we work, and we like to take responsibility for neighbours in need.
We deliver free ice cream to local schools, as well as supporting food banks, hospitals and environmental protection groups wherever we can.
We share our success with the least fortunate, and have always donated over 10% of our profits to charity. Every year, we choose one local and one humanitarian charity to support. For 2022 - 2023, our chosen charities are Rowcroft Hospice and Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine.
We donated £1 for every Easter egg we sold to DEC Ukraine, and for every milkshake pedalled on our bicycle another £1 will be donated to our local hospice.
During the pandemic the Salcombe Dairy Fairy made surprise ice cream deliveries to nursing homes and NHS wards, sprinkling a bit of magic in some dark times.
