A dairy near Swindon has had its gelato named the best at a major competition.
Brinkworth Dairy, close to Royal Wootton Bassett and Dauntsey, has won the Champion Gelato prize at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards for the second year in a row.
Its salted caramel flavour took home the top prize in the competitive gelato category after their raspberry gelato claimed the award last year.
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Director of Brinkworth Dairy, Ceri Cryer, stated that the award is very significant for the family-run business.
She said: “It was absolutely fantastic, an amazing achievement and such a big deal for our little dairy.
“To win it for two years in a row shows that it is not a fluke but shows that what Lee is doing here is real talent.”
Lee Sheppard, Chief Ice Cream Maker and Affineur at Brinkworth’s, only started making ice cream three months before winning his first champion ice cream.
Fast-forward 15 months and, now a two-time winner of the prize, Sheppard believes that attention to detail and cleanliness are vital to the quality of the product.
He said: “With ice cream making, it’s very important to keep everything really clean.
"You have to keep on top of every flavour, clean every machine and keep everything 100% spotless.
“I’m fussy but as a customer that is what you should expect.”
After being presented with the award Cryer admitted that the ice cream almost failed to enter the competition after she took a wrong turn.
She said: “On the day of the judging I ended up at Bingley Hall in Birmingham instead of the Bingley Hall in Stafford where the competition was taking place.
“I had to run to get the products presented and we got them out just as the judges took to the stage.
“If I was a minute later, we wouldn’t have been in the running.”
Senior Steward at the event, and presenter of the award, Kerry Love, believes that Brinkworth is a leading example for how dairy’s should be run.
He stated: “Brinkworth typifies a British dairy with people passionate about their products, whether that is cheese, yoghurts, milk or ice cream.
“Places like these are the heartbeat of not just the British dairy industry but the British farming industry as a whole.”
However, the local business isn’t satisfied with just two awards and hopes to earn more in the future.
Cryer said: “I want every one of our ice cream flavours to be awarded Champion Gelato at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards."
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