Farmhouse ice cream company wins funds to double production

An ice cream maker based in Galashiels is to double the size of its manufacturing site after securing financial support through the Scottish Borders Leader fund.

Lucy Bergius runs Over Langshaw Farmhouse Ice Cream from her familys 500-acre dairy farm. Photograph: Phil Wilkinson

Over Langshaw Farmhouse Ice Cream, run by Lucy Bergius on her family’s 500-acre dairy farm and founded after her parents decided to diversify the business, is to receive half of the £90,000 needed to grow its floor space to 90 square metres. The sum will also help buy a larger machine producing ice cream, doubling production to 1,400 litres in the summer.

The additional capacity will help target new wholesale customers, already supplying 40 restaurants in Edinburgh and the Borders, and sell more ice cream from its converted police box in the capital’s Grassmarket.

Bergius said the firm’s growth over the last ten years has been “gradual”, but it found itself “at a crossroads last year, running to capacity and having to turn down work. I decided there were too many opportunities, particularly in the capital, for our ice cream, so the new machine, walk-in freezer and overall larger storage area will help us to do just that”.

Chris Trotman of Business Gateway, which advised the firm to apply for the funding, said: “The Scottish Borders Leader fund has already awarded £1.5 million in grants since it was launched in February last year, helping small businesses throughout the region innovate, expand and create jobs.”