TO have a passion for ice cream really isn't that unusual. But few people have had the opportunity to indulge that passion quite so much as farmer's daughter Harriet Wilson.

She's now boss of her own dairy ice cream business, using milk from her parents' organic farm. She has a well-established network of outlets, sales are growing steadily and there are plans for more expansion. And she's only 19.

Harriet got the ice cream bug quite seriously two years ago after working in the pastry section at the renowned Whatley Manor hotel not far from her home in Westonbirt.

And she didn't have to look too far for supplies of raw material – her father Simon's herd of 50 certified organic cows. And not just standard black-and-white milkers, either, but comparatively rare dairy shorthorns, a breed which was always reckoned to produce the connoisseur's favourite milk in days gone by.

"What I learned at Whatley Manor and the fact that I'd always been passionately interested in cooking and making things were what really got me started," says Harriet. "It also seemed a sensible thing to do to diversify into ice cream. It adds value to a basic product. It's the way so many farms are going these days."

Simon Wilson has been a long-term supplier to OMSCo, the Somerset-based Organic Milk Suppliers' Co-operative, the largest marketing group of its kind in the country and itself one of the main suppliers to Yeo Valley, also based in Somerset and maker of the country's top-selling organic yogurt range.

Much of the milk from Home Farm is still sold to the co-operative – but that won't be the case much longer if Harriet has her way. For serious expansion is now on the cards following the enthusiastic reception given to her farm-produced ice cream by consumers.

"We're planning a farm shop as the next stage in expanding the business," she says.

"That would enable us to reduce the size of the herd but turn all the milk into ice cream, yogurt or cheese and sell it direct.

"Rebecca, my mum, has already been doing the research looking for suitable sites, so hopefully we'll be starting the project pretty soon."

Westonbirt Home-made Ice Cream comes in a variety of flavours. There's a basic range of 10, but it's subject to variation at any time according to what's in season and what new combination of flavours Harriet comes up with.

"It took me quite some time to get the basics right, writing recipes and experimenting with various combinations," she said.

"Perfecting the production method was quite difficult, but once we were there, it was just a question of adding more flavours as we went along.

"As well as the basic range, I also do one-offs to special order. The most unusual was a beetroot and raspberry ice cream I was asked to make for Duchy Home Farm when they were launching their vegetable box scheme. It may sound strange, but actually it was surprisingly popular.

"We use only local, free-range eggs and I buy all the fruit locally as well. I normally freeze it in the summer so I've got enough to keep me going all year."

Next up on the list of developments is a mail- order service which should guarantee Harriet's ice cream arriving next day still nicely frozen. And it will genuinely be her product.

"I do have help selling, but I still make all the ice cream myself," she said. "And I'm still as enthusiastic about it as when I started.

"I love running my own business, I love the freedom it gives me to do what I want – and I love the way it's so rewarding as well."