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Before the ice cream could get anywhere near a village shop or a pub table, there was equipment to buy, hygiene requirements to meet and a new business to get off the ground.
At Daleview Dairy in Lofthouse, the Graham family began making ice cream on the farm in early 2025, using locally sourced milk. Support through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme helped them take those first practical steps.
The funding contributed towards production equipment and the planting of a small orchard. In time, its fruit will provide ingredients for future flavours.
“Starting a new venture meant there was a lot of equipment we needed to buy before we could begin making ice cream, so we were very grateful for the FiPL funding towards those costs and the planting of our small orchard,” says Millie Graham.
The business now supplies pubs, shops, cafés and caravan parks across the dale. A catering trailer purchased at the beginning of 2026 allows the family to sell directly to customers too.
“We’re now supplying lots of local businesses across the dale as well as serving ice cream from our trailer, and in the future, we hope to milk a small herd of our own cows here at Lofthouse,” Millie says.
It's one example of how an idea for a farm’s future can connect local food production, new income and investment in the landscape.
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According to Nidderdale National Landscape, more than 250 projects have already been supported locally through Farming in Protected Landscapes, usually shortened to FiPL.
They range from conservation work and infrastructure for regenerative grazing to farmhouse cheese-making, mobile hen houses, freezers and pasteurisers.
The variety reflects the programme’s purpose. Funded by Defra, FiPL supports projects delivering benefits for climate, nature, people and place, including more resilient, nature-friendly farm businesses.
Those ambitions take physical form in different ways. Temporary electric fencing and water infrastructure can help farmers change how they manage grazing. Equipment can enable a new food business to begin production. Conservation or access work can help people understand and enjoy the landscape.
For Nidderdale, these are decisions about the future of a place where livelihoods and land management are closely connected.
A protected landscape is also a place of work: fields need managing, businesses need customers and families need viable plans. Support is most useful when it connects those realities with clear benefits for nature and the wider community.
Matt Trevelyan, Farming in Protected Landscapes officer at Nidderdale National Landscape, wants people to know that they do not need a finished proposal before approaching the team.
“The main thing I’d say to anyone with an idea is, don’t let the forms put you off. Pick up the phone or send me an email and I’ll come out and talk it through with you,” he says.
“Quite often the best projects start with a conversation around the kitchen table. You don’t need to have everything worked out, just an idea of what you’d like to do, and we can help you develop it from there.”
That's a practical invitation. An applicant might know what they want to change without yet knowing which fund could support it, how to describe the benefits or what the next step should be.
The team can help explore those questions and establish whether FiPL is suitable.
“It might be that we redirect you to another fund or another organisation, but quite often we can fund it through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme,” Matt says.
Advice matters alongside the grant itself. Turning an early idea into a deliverable project requires time, knowledge and someone willing to talk it through.
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The Nidderdale team says commercial projects with a strong nature-friendly element can receive support of up to 40 per cent, while projects delivering entirely public benefits may potentially receive up to 100 per cent.
These are possible funding levels, rather than automatic entitlements. The amount available depends on the project, its benefits and the applicable programme rules.
FiPL is also open beyond individual farm businesses. Other organisations and individuals can apply when collaborating with, or supporting, a farmer or land manager. Applicants need control of the relevant land and activities, or written consent from those who have it.
For a community group with an idea involving access, heritage or nature, the first conversation can therefore help establish both eligibility and the partnerships needed to proceed.
The programme runs until March 2029, with projects required to finish by then. Applications can close earlier if the available funding is allocated, so anyone considering a proposal should speak to the team rather than assume there is no urgency.
Daleview Dairy’s orchard is still an investment in flavours to come. The family’s ambition to milk a small herd of its own cows is another future step.
For now, the business is producing ice cream and supplying other enterprises across Nidderdale.
The wider FiPL invitation recognises that projects often develop in stages. A conversation establishes what might be possible; advice helps shape the proposal; funding can help turn it into something that works.
Across the dale, the next idea might involve grazing, habitat, a historic feature, public access or a new use for a farm’s produce.
Matt’s message is straightforward.
“Come and speak to us. Tell us what you’re thinking about and we can help work out whether FiPL is the right route and how the idea could develop.”
For those wondering where to begin, the kitchen table sounds like a good place.
Discuss an idea
Contact Matt Trevelyan, Farming in Protected Landscapes officer at Nidderdale National Landscape:
Telephone: 07745 544 872
Email: Matthew.Trevelyan@northyorks.gov.uk
Further information: Nidderdale’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.
Header image: Mallard Grange Kiwitech Fencing (Ellis Hall)
