ANYONE who can sell ice cream to the Italians must be doing something right.

Hazel and Peter Hartle are the force behind the multiple award-winning Purbeck Ice Cream which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Everything is supplied directly from their picturesque farm comprising 35 acres of lush green meadows overlooking the historic remains of Corfe Castle.

The husband and wife team have been enjoying the sweet taste of success after scooping numerous accolades over the years for their real dairy ice creams and spring water sorbets.

But it wasn’t always the case.

The couple, who had both given up careers – Hazel was a veterinary nurse and Peter was a firefighter – to follow their dream of becoming dairy farmers, suddenly faced an uncertain future with the introduction of milk quotas.

“It was a very scary time,” says Hazel. “We had three sons under the age of three and we were running a 60 Friesian dairy herd. We found it impossible to maintain the farm as a viable enterprise and had to come up with something pretty fast that we could do with our lovely milk.

“But it had to be something that didn’t result in penalties for over production or tread on anyone’s toes by embarking on a venture which was already being done locally.”

The couple shared a passion for ice cream – they would visit every ice cream parlour in the area – and decided to try and make their own.

“We were adamant from the start that our ice cream should be utterly natural with no artificial additives or colours,” says Hazel.

They started production in a converted building next to the dairy, one milking and skimming for double cream and the other batching up small tubs of ice cream.

“We would flip a coin to decide who would drive off in our little van, complete with chest freezer in the back, and who would stay at home looking after the boys.”

Now 25 years later the farm is a nationally recognised top producer of real dairy ice cream in a mouth-watering array of flavours such as Honeycombe Hash, Chocolate Orange, Clotted Cream and Fig and Honey as well as more unusual combinations including their ChilliRed.

“In 2001 we were approached by the Springbourne Fire Station in Bournemouth to make a spicy ice cream for a Mexican evening and it went from there,” Hazel explains.

The chilli-flavoured ice cream proved to be so popular that celebrity chef Rick Stein even recommends serving it with steaks.

Hazel and Peter, who now have a team of 17 working for them, went on to experiment with a range of innovative new flavours including Cracked Black Pepper, Lemon Grass and Stem Ginger.

This year they launched Dorset Watercress and their Dorset Blue Vinny flavour won the Fresh Ideas Innovation Award at the International Food Exhibition.

Although they don’t have their own dairy herd now – just lots of sheep and a few dogs – they use milk from a local farm. The process from cow to cone takes around 48 hours as they work a day ahead of freezing.

When you look behind the scenes you are struck by the lovely sweet smell and how sparklingly clean everything is in the production area.

Over the past 25 years, their customer base has gradually grown from locally-based organisations like The National Trust, hotels, restaurants, food shops and farm shops to London theatres, international cruise ships and airlines.

“One of the flights is direct to Rome. I love the fact that we are now supplying ice cream to the Italians,” laughs Hazel.