Want to learn more about organic farming and love ice cream? Then head for luxury ice-cream maker Cream o’ Galloway where you’ll find an exciting new programme of events and experiences that take visitors behind the scenes of this food and farming business.
Sadly, the adventure playground has closed but owner Wilma Finlay has created workshop areas in the visitor centre and new on-farm visitor experiences to keep families entertained this summer.
What’s more, there are four miles of signposted nature trails that are dog-friendly – make sure your pooch is kept on a lead at all times – and free of charge to explore all year round. The trails take in two. wildlife lochans, a wildlife hide, acres of woodland that we have planted over the last 20 years and also some ancient woodland where you might be lucky enough to spot red squirrels.
There’s also a nine-hole crazy golf course that all members of the family can enjoy.
Located in the heart of Dumfries and Galloway, not far from the coast, Rainton Farm is home to Cream o’ Galloway and The Ethical Dairy. Owner Wilma Finlay explains: “Covid and lockdown forced us to completely rethink the experiences we provide at Cream o’ Galloway.
“As part of that we’ve explored how the visitor centre might incorporate all the different businesses on our farm – Cream o’ Galloway’s ice cream, The Ethical Dairy’s cheese and, of course, Rainton Farm itself.
“We ran some pilot workshops last August and they proved so popular that we realised making ice cream is almost as much fun as eating it!
“Just as importantly, it’s something that people of all ages can enjoy. So, we decided to redesign half of our visitor centre to create dedicated food tourism workshop areas that can allow easy social distancing.”
The ice cream workshops take place daily during weekends and school holiday periods. The guided workshops involve making and flavouring ice cream from scratch, and cost £25 per workstation, suitable for up to three people working together. Adult-only groups can incorporate alcohol into their ice cream.
Meanwhile, full-day cheese-making courses run regularly throughout the year, and weekly during holiday periods. They include practical hard and soft cheese-making sessions, a farm tour, cheese tasting, cheese store tour then lunch. The course costs £95 per person, or £130 for two people working together at a single workstation.
All About Our Farm is a new family-friendly farm tour priced at £6 per person and taking place on weekdays during school holidays.
Then there’s The Ethical Dairy farm tour, an in-depth weekly event led by the farm team which explores the environmental impacts of different farming approaches and topical issues. This event is designed for adults and will usually be led by David Finlay, who has pioneered cow-with-calf dairy farming in Scotland. Tours exploring the pioneering dairy cost £15 per person.
Rainton is the largest cow-with-calf dairy farm in Europe. Rather than being separated at birth like most dairy farms, the calves at Rainton stay with their mums for up to six months to suckle naturally, as part of an organic, regenerative dairy farming system.
David explains: “We get a lot of enquiries from members of the public and other farmers about our farming system, because cow-with-calf dairy farming is still very unusual and people naturally have a lot of questions about what we do here.
“This new farm tour is an opportunity for people who are really interested in farming, environmental management and sustainable approaches to food production to come onto the farm to explore these topics in some depth.
“The environmental impact of farming is going to become more and more important in the race to net zero, so we want to play our part in that journey by sharing our knowledge and our experiences.”
As well as the new food tourism workshop areas, the ice cream parlour at Cream o’ Galloway has been redesigned. It is hoped a new tearoom area with a wood-burning stove will mean the visitor centre can stay open all year round.
An onsite cheese counter and farm-inspired décor brings sister company The Ethical Dairy fully into the visitor centre too.
Wilma adds: “Cream o’ Galloway is more than 25 years old and we’ve seen lots of changes over the years.
“Covid may have forced us to move into a new phase, and the closure of the adventure playground will understandably be disappointing for some of our visitors, but we are determined to continue to offer high-quality visitor experiences here that can be enjoyed by all ages.
“Cream o’ Galloway has always been a place where people can come together to share fun experiences. Continuing to provide memorable, shared experiences is the thinking behind these new events.”
Food tourism has been identified as a priority in the recovery of Scotland’s tourism sector from Covid-19, and it’s the focus of an industry-led drive to deliver an additional £1 billion to Scotland’s economy by 2030.
www.creamogalloway.co.uk
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