Wallings Ice Cream Farm in Cockerham celebrates 40 years

For generations of families across Lancashire, a trip to Wallings in Cockerham has been a summer ritual. Now the family-run ice cream farm is celebrating a milestone of its own, marking 40 years in business with new flavours and a big birthday celebration.

The anniversary year brought two new additions to the menu: Birthday Cake and Caramel Chocolate. Both are served in cones and tubs, in sundaes, or as toppings for pancakes and waffles in the farm's café.

The Birthday Cake flavour is also travelling well beyond the farm gate. A nationwide rollout was planned from March through partnerships with distributors, with Rob Walling naming Chicken Cottage, Adam's and Bestway as partners. It is a remarkable reach for an ice cream that began with the family's own dairy herd.

Wallings remains very much a family affair. Rob runs the business alongside his brother Phil, while their sister Anna manages the café, and the business has been described as run by three generations of the Walling family. Their father, Peter, is credited with starting to make the ice cream on the farm.

The story is a classic example of farm diversification. Farmers Weekly reported that a modest investment in equipment allowed the family to begin making ice cream on a small scale at Cockerham, using milk from their dairy herd. From those beginnings the range has grown to nearly 40 different flavours.

The farm is based in a converted barn on Garstang Road in Cockerham, and it has long featured in local round-ups of the best ice cream parlours in Lancashire. Its rural setting, between Garstang and the coast, makes it an easy stop on a day out.

To mark the anniversary, the family planned a 40th birthday celebration at the farm on 20 March, open to the local community. They are also supporting Children with Cancer UK through an on-site vending machine, with all proceeds going to the charity.

Wallings Ice Cream Farm is on Garstang Road in Cockerham. Visitors can call in for a cone, a sundae or a meal in the café, and it is worth checking the farm's social media for seasonal flavours and events.