Hocking’s Dairy

Company History: It was Whitsun 1936 that Dave Hocking sold his buses to Southern National and started making ice cream. From the beginning he was determined to make a high quality West Country ice cream using butter and clotted cream. He bought an electric ice cream maker, many of his competitors were still using a hand machine frozen by ice and salt, and sought the advice from The Ice Cream Alliance on how to make a good quality product.

It quickly gained a good local reputation, and after the war he was joined by his two sons, David and Ernest, and the business began to grow. They would enter the ice cream competitions and won their first Diploma of merit in 1953. Since then another 76 have been added, the highest being a Bronze medal in 2005 and 2011.

Brief History: The United Kingdom, made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is an island nation in northwestern Europe. England – birthplace of Shakespeare and The Beatles – is home to the capital, London, a globally influential centre of finance and culture. England is also site of Neolithic Stonehenge, Bath’s Roman spa and centuries-old universities at Oxford and Cambridge.