Ice cream parlour scoops yet another award – but what’s their secret?

Basil and Rusty’s in Machen has been crowned the best dessert outlet at the Food Awards Wales 2023.

Now churned out of Gelli Wastad Farm by Geraint Richards and Emma Jones, the business first opened in 1987 and was run by dairy farmer, and Geraint’s father, Lewis Richards and wife Susan.

Richer than their award winning ice cream however is the family’s ice cream history.

Lewis had 30-years of dairy experience when he took over from Sandra and Bruno Minoli, who were themselves selling ice cream from a hand cart in Machen during the 1970s and 80s, with their ice cream being made at a factory on Forge Row.

When Lewis moved the business to its current location, he used all his knowledge to create an ice cream recipe which still remains untouched some three decades later.

In the years that followed, Lewis and Sue became legends within the ice cream community – Lewis winning a life time achievement award and becoming a judge with the Ice Cream Alliance and Sue becoming its president.

The ice cream itself won countless awards, including the coveted ‘Champion of Champions’, recognising the best ice cream in Britain, a record three times.

After retiring at the age of 70, Lewis left the running of the business to Sue, his daughter Sian and her husband Richard before Geraint and Emma took over in 2016 under the parlour’s latest guise – Basil and Rusty’s.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer about where it all started, Geraint said: “Well I was born on the farm and Dad was a Rudry boy.

“I was 15 when they actually bought the building here and I worked every summer before eventually leaving for college. I could make ice cream before Dad honestly but he’d never accept that.”

Geraint, better known as Rusty, went on to do “all sorts” in his early 20s, including working as a salesman and a teacher at a charity in Cwmbran, where he met Emma, or Basil.

On the parlour’s recognisable name, Geraint explained that ‘Rusty’ comes from his “ginger roots and fiery personality”, while ‘Basil’ was Emma’s nickname as a child after TV puppet Basil Brush.

In what can only be described as fate, Emma has an ice cream history of her own. She explained: “Sometime in the early 1900s I had Italian relatives who were ice cream makers and set up a parlour in Canton, Cardiff.”

The pair moved to Rudry and took over the business soon after before having their first child, Tess, and twins/”chief tasters”, Ted and Belle, shortly after that.

“I knew I had the skills to run the business. I’ve always enjoyed the customer service side and I knew how to make ice cream,” said Geraint. “Everything else here is down to Emma however. She transformed the yard and is always on top of new trends to keep people coming back.”

It hasn’t been easy for the pair, who have had to do everything themselves after Geraint lost his father Lewis in 2017 to cancer.

Geraint continued: “He taught me everything I know and I put all of our success down to him. There aren’t many men who can say they worked harder than my father.

“We didn’t go to him for help in the final year because it wasn’t fair. He lived and breathed ice cream but he wanted to enjoy the time he had left. I just made decisions by thinking ‘what would Dad do?’.”

Basil and Rusty’s focuses on “the experience” according to the couple, who are confident their ice cream will do the talking for itself.

The company uses milk for their ice cream from a small local family supplier and also relies on locally-based suppliers for its cakes and coffee served in the café.

“I don’t care if people come here and only buy a coffee honestly. We’re not here to get rich. We’ve expanded the building and our menu to get as many people here enjoying themselves as possible.”

When it comes to the menu, Geraint explained how they’ve expanded in an attempt to win one of the flavour categories for the first time. He added: “We’ve only ever won for vanilla, which is the benchmark for any maker, but we wanted to try and win with something else.

“Some of our flavours here are actually inspired by our staff. We have a Jazzy Mint which proves popular, named after one of our long-time staff members Jasmine.”

This effort has paid off, with the parlour scooping-up yet another Champion of Champions win last year, and most recently their second Food Award Wales win, which is nominated by customers.

“We couldn’t believe that we won that one again,” said Emma, “although it isn’t judged as such, it tells us that we’re doing a good job and without that we wouldn’t be up for the other awards.”

Now only open four days a week during the spring and summer months, Geraint and Emma spend the winter repairing and upgrading the parlour where they can.

Despite selling hundreds of litres worth of ice cream when they’re open. Caerphilly Observer asked the couple how they cope financially during down times, especially throughout the Covid pandemic. Geraint said: “It’s tough. We barely made any money last year due to still catching up with things because of Covid.

“If we’d had just gone into business before Covid it would have been over. It was still horrendous but fortunately because mum owns the place outright we didn’t have to pay a mortgage and she let us off paying rent for a while.

“Even now on the days we are closed we shut everything down that costs money to run. Dairy costs have gone up but it isn’t the farmers’ fault. It’s really hard out there at the minute and we’re all struggling.”

Geraint concluded: “I’ve never taken credit for the success we’ve had because it’s all down to my parents. There’s no great secret, you just make great ice cream and make coming here fun for everyone.”

Basil and Rusty’s is open between 10am and 6pm on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The company will next be selling ice cream from the Royal Welsh Show, which begins on Monday July 24.