Whoever it was that came up with idea of combining cream, sugar, and eggs, adding in some fruit flavours and freezing was a genius and in the unlikely event that someone stumbles across the secret to time travel, I shall go back and shake his or her hand.

This week, at Layston Grove we have been we have been blind tasting ice-creams and learning a little about the origins of this sweet treat. Bizarrely, the first examples of a frozen style dessert are thought to have originated in Ancient China in around 3000 B.C. when crushed ice was combined with fruit juices. Who would have imagined that the Slushie was 5000 years old?

Over millennia this recipe has been adapted and added to, the Ancient Greeks added honey and wine and eventually in around 400 B.C. the first creamy textured frozen dessert was created for the royal family of the Persian Empire by combining vermicelli with frozen rose water, saffron and fruits.

Ice-cream eventually made its debut in the western world courtesy of Marco Polo in the 13^th century, when he took the Chinese method of ice-cream making back to his homeland of Italy.

We had such a fun time tasting all of the ice-creams on offer, there were very mixed opinions, we all had our favourites.

This week we have seen some quite breath-taking temperatures recorded across the UK; it has made us realise how lucky we are to have air conditioning here at Layston Grove.

 Air conditioning and ice-cream, the perfect heatwave antidote.