Hockings ice cream has been an integral part of beach trips for so many Coastwise members that we invited Geoff Hocking to come and tell us the story of his family’s ice cream business in Appledore.
We were not disappointed, as Geoff was not just informative, but very entertaining. The Award-winning ice cream, made to the same recipe over four generations, uses only the finest natural dairy ingredients. No wonder then that those in the audience who had sampled it already knew they loved it. By the time he had finished the others knew they had a treat in store, and everyone recognised that here, in the best tradition of local family firms, was a business to be proud of.
Geoff, one of three family members who run the business today, took us back to his great-grandfather, who ran a shipping business on the Taw in the late 1800s. His grandfather became involved, and as economic times changed, the business morphed into taxi and bus operation in Bideford. Then, over 70 years ago, the ice cream business was started by his grandfather, a man of great enterprise, in 1936 when, again, commercial pressures forced the sale of the bus business. With a large family to support 
and equipped with little more than his home as the base for his new business, in a remarkable change of direction he started to make vanilla dairy ice cream from an old recipe. The ices were sold from the front parlour and from the first of the yellow and red vans, which are now a familiar summer sight.
A bespoke 1928 Morris Cowley conversion by Moores of South Molton, it needed a hole in the floor to provide standing room inside. Recently restored to glory, Geoff claims that as a show attraction it is possibly the oldest working ice cream van in the world.
From the 50s and with a growing local reputation, the business expanded as new members of the family joined. More vans were acquired, and production, having earlier transferred from house to garden, moved to the present factory built nearby in 1962. Investment in new machinery kept them abreast of advances in 
production methods and allowed increased capacity but throughout the ice cream kept the rich dairy quality that is its distinctive appeal.
Geoff’s Dad had persuaded electrician Geoff to join the firm in 1971 “just for a year”. He is still there decades later and justifiably proud of the firm, now with 14 vans and a well-established place in the hearts of local people and holiday makers. Geoff clearly relishes making the ice cream and selling it, and long may that continue so that we can enjoy it.