Ice cream with plenty of VW charm

The 1966 former Swiss postal van has been given a new lease of life as a mobile ice cream parlour.

And ‘Florence’ is proving a huge hit at shows, festivals, birthday parties, corporate events and weddings around the region.

“When people see her on the road, she makes them smile and there is nothing better than making somebody smile. She makes me smile all the time,” says Polly.

The couple, who were already VW fans and owners of campervan ‘Matilda’, first fell in love with ‘Florence’ after seeing the split-screen high top advertised for sale in Hungary in 2011.

They decided to take a chance by paying a £1,000 deposit and then kept their fingers crossed. “It was a lot of money to lose but it wasn’t the end of the world if it didn’t get here.

“We didn’t hear anything for a while then we had a phone call from Hungary and four guys were on their way with Florence. They travelled through the night and delivered her to our door. It was truly humbling,” explains former intensive care nurse Polly.

“It was one of these mad ideas, an early mid-life crisis maybe, but we wanted to change our lives. We were living in Cheshire. Mark was running a landscaping business and I was helping him with the books. We sold our house, bought a derelict chapel in rural Shropshire and then we bought Florence.

“We didn’t know at the time she was going to be an ice cream van but we knew we wanted a new challenge and time off together to spend travelling,” says Polly, aged 45.

Florence was one of 350 VW high tops bought by the Swiss postal service and was used daily in Berne from 1966 to 1977 before being sold to a private Swiss buyer.

In 1992, the van arrived in Hungary where it was used as camper and a ‘rock band’ van. After being imported to Shropshire, Mark and Polly, who live in Cheswardine, decided to convert Florence into an ice cream van.

“Ice cream was the perfect choice because it wasn’t smelly, we didn’t need to cook anything and there was no wastage,” Polly tells Weekend.

Florence then underwent a full restoration, with the help of the VDub Bodyshop, in Audlem, and given a fresh new look which included being hand-painted in Neapolitan ice cream colours.

“We were very conscious of keeping her as original as possible. We put in a hatch but because VW had made some with hatches we were able to use an original blueprint.

“For the colours and hand-painted sign I wanted to create a nostalgic look. Florence is completely cream from behind but when you walk around the side you can see the full colours, I wanted to give people a nice surprise when they saw her properly for the first time,” says Polly.

Inside Florence there are bespoke holdover freezers that require no running engines, generators or electricity during the day.

Polly’s Parlour was up and running by the summer 2012 offering a wide range of award-winning Cheshire Farm ice creams, sorbets and lollies. Flavours currently on offer include raspberry ripple, mint chocolate chip, vanilla pod, honeycomb and rum and raisin. “People have asked why we don’t make our own ice cream but I don’t think I could beat this ice cream. I wouldn’t want people to love Florence but be disappointed with their ice cream because I had made it. This way we’ve got a beautiful van and beautiful ice cream,” says Polly.

The couple’s first major event was Ludlow Food Festival and since then their business has gone from strength-to-strength. Last year alone they took Florence to 65 weddings and corporate bookings have also increased including an event at Birmingham NEC that saw them sell 2,500 ice creams in one day.

“The Ludlow Food Festival gave us a leg up locally and it has grown from there. Weddings and corporate events have really taken off. From the start people have been so supportive. People come back to festivals and shows to see us,” says Polly.

The couple are particularly proud that Florence is driven to every event they are booked to attend despite being more than 50 years ago. “We never trailer her. There is always a worry about what happens if she breaks down because she was made in 1966. We’ve had a few hairy moments where we’ve had to call in the VW shop but, touch wood, we’ve never broken down, we’ve always managed to get to every booking,” explains Polly.

The couple’s van, Matilda, is an original 1967 split screen, which has been fully restored and was featured on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces in 2014. Once their ice cream season finishes in early October they will be going travelling in their much-loved campervan.

“We go from from VW to another but that’s why we are doing this because it gives us the time to spend together,” says Polly.

They are also have a third VW van, Clarence, which dates back to 1954 and is awaiting restoration.

Both Florence and Matilda tend to attract a lot of attention wherever they go. “Everybody has a story about a VW. They may have learned to drive in a Beetle or their grandad may have a had a campervan.

“With Florence and Matilda, it’s all about the lifestyle and you get to slow down. There is no technology involved, it’s switches or levers, it’s all mechanical and that’s lovely,” says Mark, 45.

“You can’t do more than 45mph in them so there is no racing from here to there, life is a lot calmer. We feel very proud and lucky when we are in them,” adds Polly.

*Polly’s Parlour will be at RAF Cosford Museum on August 5-8, 12-16, 18-22 and 24-29.

See www.pollys-parlour.co.uk