Cream o’ Galloway has launched a new programme of events and experiences to take visitors behind the scenes of their food and farming businesses.
They have now installed two large covid-safe workshop areas in the visitor centre, designed to allow social distancing and provide plenty of ventilation to minimise covid-related risk.
Owner Wilma Finlay said: “Covid and lockdown forced us to completely rethink the experiences we provide at Cream o’ Galloway, and as part of that we’ve explored how the visitor centre might incorporate all the different businesses on our farm – so Cream o’ Galloway’s ice cream, The Ethical Dairy’s cheese and of course Rainton Farm itself.
“We ran some pilot workshops last August and they proved so popular that we realised making ice cream is almost as much fun as eating it! Just as importantly, it’s something that people of all ages can enjoy. So, we decided to redesign half of our visitor centre to create dedicated food tourism workshop areas that can allow easy social distancing.”
Food tourism has been identified as a priority in the recovery of Scotland’s tourism sector from Covid-19, and it’s the focus of an industry-led drive to deliver an additional £1 billion to Scotland’s economy by 2030.
As well as the new food tourism workshop areas, the ice cream parlour at Cream o’ Galloway has been redesigned. It is hoped a new tearoom area with a wood burning stove will mean the visitor centre can stay open year-round.
Wilma added: “Cream o’ Galloway is more than 25 years old and we’ve seen lots of changes over the years. Covid may have forced us to move into a new phase, and the closure of the adventure playground will understandably be disappointing for some of our visitors, but we are determined to continue to offer high quality visitor experiences here that can be enjoyed by all ages.”
