As the scorching weather returns, the best way to cool down is with an ice cream by the sea. The UK’s coastal towns are peppered with parlours serving everything from rich, creamy gelato, to refreshing sorbets and conefuls of quirky flavours. Here are some of our favourite spots.
Joe’s Ice Cream, Mumbles, Swansea
This century-old family run parlour in Mumbles is a “local cult”, said Felicity Cloake in The Times. It also has branches in Cardiff and Llanelli. There are rules: “always order the vanilla” which is “churned fresh every day” and has a “distinctly savoury edge”. You’ll also find huge sundaes here, and a knickerbocker glory that present owner Adrian Hughes thinks is “far too big for one person. Believe me, it’s not.”
Jannetta’s Gelateria, St Andrews, Fife
“If you’ve ever visited St Andrews in winter, you’ll appreciate just how good Jannetta’s gelato must be to have stuck it out in South Street for the past 118 years,” said Cloake in The Times. When it comes to choice you’ll be hard pressed to find better: the parlour serves 54 different flavours that make use of locally sourced ingredients like Fife tayberries and Dundee marmalade. Expect long queues when it’s hot but the samples on offer while you wait “sweeten the deal”.
Hive, Aberaeron, Wales
Master ice cream makers Kevin and Mateuz make their “legendary” honey ice cream at Hive, said Portia Jones on Wales Online. The “distinctive, creamy” confection is “hands down my favourite ice cream” in the country. “One scoop, and you’ll see why it has a cult following.” Located right by the picturesque harbour in Aberaeron (with branches in Cardigan and Saundersfoot), it’s a great place for a sunny afternoon stroll.
Rossi’s Ices, Weymouth, Dorset
“Forget your standard vanilla”, said Judy Cogan in The i Paper. At Rossi’s, the Figliolini family “let the natural taste of the cooked milk shine”. They’ve been scooping here since 1937 and certainly know a thing or two about how to make and serve ice cream properly. Expect everything from banana splits and chocolate sundaes to affogato and ice cream sodas.
Moomaid of Zennor, St Ives, Cornwall
Milk is supplied by the cows at the on-site family farm to the parlour at this charming spot in St Ives, said Cogan in The i Paper. In keeping with its Cornish location, every scoop of ice cream is “topped with a dollop of clotted cream”. Flavours are creative but not “heinously quirky”: things like orange and mascarpone or almond and cherry ripple. “Watch out for circling seagulls”.
Cool off with a cone at a sunny seaside parlour
