Family Outing Review: Bidlea Dairy in Holmes Chapel

We love discovering and exploring new places especially if it is local to us.  With the long summer holidays on our doorstep and us not heading abroad this year, we are finding new place to visit on days out to keep our children busy and entertained.

In this post, we are sharing with you about Bidlea Dairy, a business owned by the Brown family which began selling homemade ice cream since 2020.

The family has been dairy farmers for three generations and have raised cows on their farm for over 60 years. Their herd of almost 1,000 Bidlea Holstein-Fresian cows have won both national and European awards and they have recently been awarded 4 golds for their creams and ice-cream from the International Cheese and Dairy Awards.

So join us as we visited Bidlea Dairy to find out more about about their deliciously fresh milk and award-winning ice-cream straight from their farm in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.

What we thought of Bidlea Dairy

After months of rain, we suddenly experienced some amazing warm weather last week so we decided to go hunting for some local ice-cream.  We are lucky as we do have have amazing local ice-cream farms such as The Ice-Cream Farm which sells Cheshire ice-cream and Snugburys Ice Cream, but we decided to head to Bidlea Dairy as was told they make local award-winning ice-cream in Holmes Chapel which is quite local to us.

Getting there was easy and there was ample of free parking once we arrived there.  We spotted a few vending machines on the outside selling semi & whole milk as well as flavoured milk as well as locker boxes selling cream, butter, eggs, ice-cream tubs, cakes and Bidlea merchandise.

You will need a debit/credit card to use the machines as it does not accept cash. The vending machines/locker boxes are a great idea as these operate before the cafe opens and after it closes.

If you are as lucky as us (in the weather department), then I would suggest sitting outside as there are plenty of benches to sit and bask in the sun as you enjoy a generous scoop of ice-cream.  If it is too cold then don’t worry, there are lots of indoor seating available inside the cafe.

Little ones can enjoy a milkshake or ice-cream while parents/grandparents can enjoy a hot cuppa and cake.  Unlike other places such as Blaze Farm or Wheelock Hall Farm there are no play areas for little ones unfortunately.

Luckily our children are a lot older now, so they were happy to just sit on the tractor/benches and chat away enjoying their ice-cream.

Bidlea Dairy does organise some fun events throughout the year such their recent “Spring Time at Bidlea” so keep an eye out on their Facebook page for ticket details.

We were also told by the staff that there is a local zoo nearby called Zoo2U which specialises in Exotic Animal Encouters  which kids might like.  Tickets for these needed to be purchased in advance, so do contact them in advance if you are thinking of heading out to the area for a few hours with the kids.

Where is Bidlea Dairy? 

Bidlea Dairy
Twemlow Lane
Holmes Chapel
Cheshire
CW4 8DS
Phone: 01477 544 777
Email: adam@bidleadairy.co.uk

How much are their milkshakes and ice-cream?

There are around 24 different flavours of their award-winning ice-cream and sorbets in their cafe served in cones/tubs. As a guide, their diddy ice-cream cone/tub sells for £2.20 while their double chocolate dipped cone for £4.40.

Their cafe which opens are 9am serves light snacks such as toasties/bap/pasty/homemade soup, cakes and  and hot drinks. If you are feeling indulgent, you can get their milkshakes for £6.

Outside their cafe, they also have various vending machines selling flavoured milk, soft ice-cream, ice-cream tubs as well as Bidlea merchandise, cakes, cookies and 1L milk cartons. So you don’t have to que in the cafe or can grab these on the way to work/days out as they are open from 7am in the morning.

The flavoured milk is sold in paper cups or you can purchase the 1L recyclable glass bottle to take home with you.

Opening times

The cafe is open 7 days a week from 9am to 5pm while their convenient locker boxes sells milk, cream, butter, eggs, glass bottles even Bidlea merchandise. They also have vending machine which sells semi & whole milk as well as flavoured milk and these are operational from 7am to 9:30pm everyday.

About Bidlea Dairy

Bidlea Dairy is made up of Adam, Becky and Harriet, Ryan, Becky, Emmie and Maisie. They’re the latest generation of dairy farmers at Bidlea, continuing on the passion of Ray, Jill and Mel.  They’re continuing their family’s passion for high welfare, high quality, deliciously fresh milk, and we’re helping to bring Bidlea Milk to even more people around the Cheshire area.

They are passionate about the nutritional benefits of milk, about their carbon footprint, and about the understanding and awareness of what makes milk so great. Together they are focused on community engagement, sustainability and traceability, and simply promoting delicious milk, straight from their farm in Cheshire.

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