A WORCESTERSHIRE farm ice cream business, named after the legendary ghost of a 17th century cattle drover, has been accepted by a supermarket chain to supply its range of products.

Spot Loggins ice cream has been made at Bretforton House Farm, Bretforton, near Evesham, by the Appleby family since 2004 and the family business has now secured its first contract with a major retailer.

A number of the flavours including strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, mint, honeycomb, raspberry and white chocolate as well as salted caramel are just beginning to find their way into The Midcounties Co-operative Food stores as part of the supermarket’s ‘Best of Our Counties’ range.

Bretforton House Farm is a working dairy farm producing organic milk and some of that milk is blended with natural flavourings - local and in season wherever possible – to produce the ice cream. Lavender from Snowshill Lavender Farm and asparagus from the Vale of Evesham are used in season.

Phoebe Appleby, who is involved in the ice cream part of the family business, said they were looking to diversify and decided on ice cream. They chose the name Spot Loggins because it is the name of a local legend and has a connection with the farm.

She said he is known as the ghost of Bretforton and it is believed he drank too much ale and fell into the well where he drowned. The well just happens to be on the 800-acre farm.

She said they already supply ice cream to farm shops, pub and restaurants, local shops, the National Trust and English Heritage properties, but the deal with Midcounties Co-operative is very exciting.

“We are pretty excited. It is quite an opportunity to be part of the Midcounties Co-op ‘Best of Our Counties’ range.

“As a small, family-owned business, it’s a fantastic achievement to see our products on the shelves of a national retailer. This listing will give us the opportunity to spread the word about our products to more people in the local community and continue to grow our family business.

“We’re passionate about high quality, delicious treats like our ice cream and it’s good to be working with a retailer that shares the same values.”

Matt Fletcher, direct sourcing manager at The Midcounties Co-operative Food, said: “The Best of Our Counties range is all about celebrating the fantastic food and drink available in our communities and supporting the talented local suppliers behind the products.

“This is the first step in our partnership with the team at Spot Loggins and we’re looking forward to continuing our work together. We hope our customers love their products as much as we do.”

• Midcounties Co-operative aims to support local farms and suppliers where possible and the products in the ‘Best of Our Counties’ range are only sourced from the home or neighbouring counties of each store. This not only reduces food miles, it also means that our customers know exactly where their food comes from and how it has been produced providing peace of mind that it is of the highest quality as well as sustainably sourced.