DAIRY farmer John Archer hopes he has got the future licked.

He and his wife, Sue, are about to open an ice-cream parlour on their farm on the outskirts of Darlington - and all the ice-cream will be made from the milk from the 300 Jersey cows on their 300-acre New Moor Farm at Walworth Gate.

The venture brings an end to the black days of foot-and-mouth, when they lost their original 320 dairy cows and 100 young stock, a herd they founded in 1976.

"It was devastating," said Mr Archer, "but, it did make us sit back, take a good look at what we had left and think about how we could change things. We didn't want to go back exactly to how we were, but we did want to draw on our strengths as a strong, well-established dairy farm."

The idea of moving into the more specialist market of home-made Jersey ice-cream, which they made with milk from their own Jersey cows, and sold to customers visiting the farm, proved too attractive to resist.

"In the past we were all about filling up the milk tanker, but once we had waved goodbye to the tanker, that was the end of the process," said Mr Archer. "Being able to market your own products on the farm is a real treat for any farmer."

The new venture is also a dramatic change of direction for Mrs Archer, who has given up her job as a lecturer in holistics at Darlington College to run the new business.

"It is a very different job, but one I am really looking forward to," she said. "I love the idea of us running our own family business and working as a team from home. I will see more of the children, as well as being on hand to taste any new flavours we may be experimenting with.

"We plan to revive an old- fashioned flavour - "hokey pokey", made with lumps of cinder toffee - I can't wait to try that one out with the kids."

The couple also plan to carry out taste tests with lucky pupils at High Coniscliffe Primary School.

Ice-cream on their own doorstep is an exciting prospect for the Archers' three children Jessica, 15, Timothy, 13 and Charlie, nine, who are planning to invite their friends to a grand opening.

The Archers have received £25,094 from Defra's Rural Enterprise Grant towards the project, most of which will go on two hi-tech machines to make and store the ice-cream.

Work has started on transforming the old stable and forge into the parlour, which is due to open on May 30 in time for the bank holiday.