Top 6 Ice Cream Spots in Greater Manchester & Cheshire

The Ice Cream Farm sits on Drumlan Hall Farm in Tattenhall, just outside Chester, where the Fell family moved in 1980. They started making ice cream in 1986, turning part of the farm buildings into a small production room and parlour. After a big redevelopment in 2015, it went into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ice cream shop in the world.

Today it's a full Cheshire day out rather than a quick stop, with the Ice Cream Parlour, a Drive In you can walk, cycle or drive through, Pizza Piazza, Sticky Paws and the Pit Stop café. There's an adventure park, soft play and escape rooms too. Parking is free, and the play areas are pay as you go or cheaper with a Play Pass.

Snugburys began in 1986, when Chris and Cheryl made their first ice cream in their Cheshire farmhouse kitchen near Nantwich. It soon moved into an old barn in the cobbled farm courtyard, where the ice cream shop still stands. Sisters Hannah, Kitty and Cleo now run the family business, which welcomes over 350,000 ice cream fans a year.

Flavours are made in-house, from Chocolate Brownie with their own brownies to Caramelised Banana roasted with brown sugar. The production site runs on around 350 solar panels and uses reusable 5-litre tubs to cut plastic. As well as the farm there's Snugburys on the River in Chester and a seasonal shop at Alcumlow, and payment is by card.

Nicholls of Parkgate has been serving ice cream on The Parade in Parkgate, on the Wirral, for over 75 years. It's handmade using premium Italian flavours, with a counter that runs from banana and chocolate chip to black cherry, caramel fudge, lemon and lime, and Turkish Delight. It sells sweets too.

The Parade looks out over the Dee Estuary towards Wales, so take your cone for a walk along the front. Opening times vary through the year, so ring 0151 336 1274 to plan an evening visit from Manchester.

Milk Maids is an award-winning family dairy farm in Over Hulton, Bolton, with over 70 years of history. The ice cream is churned daily on the farm with fresh milk from their own Ayrshire cows. There are 24 flavours on rotation at any time, from Vanilla Bean and Honeycomb to Amarena Cherry, and the menu changes every month.

Alongside the scoops there are homemade Belgian waffles, milkshakes made with fresh free-range milk, and tubs and ice cream bricks to take home. The farm shop also sells raw milk and free-range eggs.

Back in the 1920s, Grandpa Greene made his own ice cream with a churn in the back yard of his corner shop in Salford. Grandpa Greene's now turns that recipe into handmade luxury ice cream in Saddleworth, using whole milk and double cream from Friesian cows grazing the local hills. It started as a small canalside ice cream shed and has grown over the last 21 years.

There are two sites: the canal-side parlour in Diggle, with views over Saddleworth, and Greene's Bistro & Parlour in King George V Park, Uppermill, which takes bookings. Both cater for vegetarian, vegan, halal and gluten-free diets. Diggle has a large car park and welcomes dogs outside.

BLACK MILK has been serving ice cream, gelato and sundaes on Oldham Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter since 2015. Flavours include pistachio, hazelnut, Biscoff, Oreo, ube, tiramisu and lemon sorbet, plus a weekly special. It's also home to freakshakes, pancakes and edible cereal bowls, with vegan and gluten-free options always on.

It's walk-ins only and open late every day: until 10pm Monday to Wednesday, 11pm on Thursday, midnight on Friday and Saturday, and 9pm on Sunday. That makes it an easy first stop before a drive out to the farms, or a last one on the way home. You can take a jar of the award-winning pistachio, hazelnut or white chocolate spread home too.