Derbyshire’s Tagg Lane Dairy gelato ice cream sets benchmark

During our tour of Manchester earlier this year, we encountered rumours of a farm in the heart of the Peak District which served award-winning ice cream like no other.

And so we set out on the long drive down through the beautiful dales of Derbyshire and towards Tagg Lane Dairy located just outside the quiet village of Monyash.

This 4th generation, family-run dairy farm uses the milk and cream from their Jersey cows to produce freshly made gelato onsite, with a range of exciting flavours available at their 15-cover café.

They also serve freshly made Belgian waffles, ice cream sundaes, homemade cakes made from free-range eggs, as well as hearty gelato milkshakes.

In addition, there’s “gourmet” coffees, all made special by the addition of their unpasteurised, creamy milk, which they started bottling for sale back in 2013.

Tagg Lane Dairy have won a staggering 15 stars to date!

‘Top genomic’ Danish cows secret to Tagg Lane Dairy’s success

Launching in 2017, the farm streamlined its entire production line by investing in high tech equipment which didn’t just allow for the automatic milking of the cows, but provided the family’s gelato maestro, Jack, who learned his craft at a university in Italy, to focus on making his award-winning product.

And it wasn’t long before all this hardwork paid off when, in 2019, their Chocolate flavoured ice cream achieved a 2-star Great Taste Award and their Vanilla 1-star.

Gelato maestro Jack with his herd of cows that boast “some of the best genetics in the breed of Jerseys”

And though they’ve won a staggering 15 stars to date, Jack maintains that all this success is ultimately down to the milk produced by his pedigree cows.

Having bought “top genomic cows” from Denmark, Jack told FtLion: “The genetics here at Tagg Lane Dairy is some of the best genetics in the breed of Jerseys!”

In fact, such is their reputation, that he and his herd were recently paid a surprise visit by super-rich members of Dubai’s royal family, which culminated in the esteemed aristocrats purchasing semen from the farm’s privileged bovine stock.

Having been given an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Tagg Lane Dairy’s hands-on approach to organic farming, the effort that’s gone into establishing their gelatory process and into producing their total range of 60 flavours is astounding.

Whopping 60 flavours in their catalogue!

And, of course, having won 15 stars in total since 2017, the one single factor that separates their gelatos and ice creams from any others we’ve ever had is consistency.

Theirs is velvety soft, and pulls away in silky smooth strands of airy goodness, which we simply couldn’t get enough of.

Given their evident popularity, they serve an ultra fresh product thanks to the use of local produce, including fresh farm fruits, and a fast turn over rate, with seating available for around 15 indoors and plenty more outside.

Where all the Wonka magic happens…

Of all the flavours we got to try, some of the ones that will live long in the memory is certainly the award-winning 2-star Milk Chocolate, but also Royal Cherry, Dulce De Leche, Pistachio, and Honey Comb, to name but a few.

Truth be told, no matter what you choose, you’ll be mind-blown by the dreamy texture before recovering to revel over your choice of flavour.

Organic raw unpasteurised Jersey milk @ Tagg Lane Dairy

It would be criminal to visit Tagg Lane Dairy and not grab a pint of their organic Jersey milk, particularly with all the bio goodness therein.

Granted this is raw and unpasturised, and will therefore take a few of us soft-bellied city folks by surprise; but its quality is undeniable. More importantly, it’s purchasable via their website, with delivery available across the country.

Unlike your everyday supermarket variety, where the milk is ‘standardised’ with the butterfat (cream) being removed, this is beautifully creamy and thus thicker in consistency.