We know that many of our loyalists are busy souls who don’t have the time to go trawling up, down and around our website. We have therefore created a regularly updated news page, so that if you only have enough time to hunt for our latest news or updates this page becomes your first port of call.

 

 

Anglian Business Green 100

We are delighted to tell you that we have been accepted as one of  Suffolk's Green 100 Businesses. We work hard at minimising our impact on the environment and source as many of our ingredients as locally as we can; in fact much of the fruit grows within sight of the cream ice kitchen.

 

One thing that helped us to get into the Green 100 was the new solar panels that we installed last year.  They have ticked over during the winter months and we are looking forward to the sun shining and the solar energy being generated. If you're down at the farm have a look at the roof by the courtyard to see them.  

 

Our Vintage Van is on the Road

 

Our beautiful vintage morris cream ice van is now on the road.  We had a great first outing to the Framling County Show and have got her booked up to lots more events over the summer - see our events page for more information.

 

 

 

Silver Success!

We recently received the Suffolk Carbon Charter Silver Award.  Suffolk is aiming to become “the greenest county” and we are proud to be doing our bit!

How we got silver:

• We installed solar panels towards powering our production facilities,
• We changed our packaging to create less waste and more recycling (and it is prettier too – pretty is important!)
• Stephany worked with the Low Carbon Champions Programme by the Green Light Trust
• We have a carbon reduction plan.
• We source everything we can as locally as possible; fruit from our own farm, and we use local services and suppliers wherever possible.

 

 

Christmas came early on Thursday when we hand delivered, not quite a white Christmas, but definitely a cold and frosty one!

 

Earlier this year we joined up with Firebrand Creative from Ipswich to run a special competition called ‘Do Yourself A Flavour’.  Launched at the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival we asked people to suggest a flavour they would like us to make.

 

There were some unusual entries such as Peanut Butter, Liquorice, and Salmon & Cream Cheese. Certainly novel, but we're not sure people would buy them! Crumbles and pies were very popular and hundreds of different fruit combinations were suggested. 

 

Black Forest Gateau was chosen as the overall winner and Lydia & Fliss Kindred were really excited to have special batch of it made just for them delivered to their door. We had a lovely day delivering all the prizes and seeing the smiles on peoples faces - all we were missing was a sleigh & 8 tiny reindeer!

 

The runners-up were Marissa Wright from Hertfordshire with Eton Mess and Julie Foster from Suffolk with Sloe Gin made from  Adnams Copper Pan Gin. A big thank you to everyone who took part.

 

                                

                                        Fliss Kindred                                                                    Julie Foster

 

 

We were delighted to reach the final of the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards & really touched by all the wonderful things the judges Sheila Dillon & Richard Corrigan had to say about ices:

 

‘The Gooseberry is to die for’  Richard Corrigan, Chair of Judges

‘Possibly the best ices I have ever had’  Sheila Dillion, The Food Programme

 

You can hear the judges visiting Alder Tree on BBC iPlayer

 

A fabulous day at the NEC, we didn't win this time, but it was a privilege to get this far and we enjoyed seeing all the celebrities tucking into our pots for dessert!

 

 

        

                                                            Tiffany Jones, Valentine Warner &

                                                                                           Stephany Hardingham

 

       ..

Richard Corrigan & Adam Henson tuck into pots of Alder Tree at the awards.

 

 

We are delighted to have received 5 Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food, for our Raspberry, Tayberry, Blackcurrant and two new flavours - Morello Cherry, available from the 1st August and Apple Pie, available from the 1st September.

We are delighted to be able to introduce are new 500ml packaging.  Made using 36% less packaging and 75% less plastic they are made from Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper, from sustainable managed sources.  We hope you like them as much as we do!

Audrey passes her check-up with flying colours!

We are delighted to announce the arrival of our latest recruit - Audrey the 1967 Morris LD Ambulance.

Originally made fo the Suffolk & Essex Health Authority she then spent 25 years at the Brantham Works in Manningtree.  In 2010 she moved to Stroud in Gloucestershire.

On the 23rd March 2011 Stepahny & Graham bravely drove her all the way back to Suffolk - it took us over 7 hours (with a picnic stop!) but she made it back in one piece.

We now plan to sympathetically convert her to an ice cream van, so visit facebook/aldertreeltd to see her progress - & give us a wave if you see us out and about!

The judges said the Gooseberry & Elderflower was 'absolutely stunning' 'light summer & refreshing' 'a gorgeous balance of flavours' and they wanted to 'go out and buy it right now!'

We are delighted to start the cream ice season with the launch of our newestflavour: Vanilla!  After 23 years of making our very fruity cream ices we decided that it was time to add the world's most popular flavour to our range.  We spent over a year developing the product, to ensure it was the very best we could make, and finally have something really quite delicious that we are proud to offer alongside the rest of our range.  Available in 100ml, 500ml and 4 litre containers in independently owned outlets nationwide.

We are thrilled that the well known food writer and Daily Telegraph columnist has included us in her top food guide:

'Usually when ice cream is made on a farm it is because it is a dairy farm, but in this case it is the soft fruit grown by the Hardingham family that is the important factor.  You can come here to buy or pick your own, but also to buy te fruit cream ice, so-called because there is more fruit than anything else in the pot .  It is also uniquely free from any additives such as fillers and gums.  It is shocking how many 'artisan' ice cream makers use skimmed milk etc.  The business is now run by Stephany, Nick & Joan Hardingham's savvy daughter, and you can buy the ices in a number of outlets.

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded 4 Great Taste Awards by the Guild of Fine Foods this year!  We recieved the highest award of 3-stars for both our Damson & our Tayberry flavour, indicating that the expert judges considered them to be faultless.  Our of nearly 5,000 enteries only 83 received 3 gold stars so we are thrilled to have received two of them!

 

We were also awarded 2-stars for our Gooseberry & Elderflower and 1-star for our newest flavour Toffee Apple.

'To win gold at the Great Taste Awards is a terrific achievement, but to win a 2 or 3 star award means joining Britains elite' Charles Campion, Food Critic.