ONE of the region's most famous independent ice cream makers is to close - with the business put on the market.

The North Yorkshire home of award-winning Brymor ice cream has been sold after being put up for sale for £3.5m, but the new owners do not wish to carry on the ice cream tradition.

However, Nicola Moore, 23, the granddaughter of founder Brian Moore, who set up the original parlour, is hoping the business will carry on if someone with new premises can be found.

She said: "The farm has been sold separately. We hoped to sell the business along with it, but it is a big thing to take on as a whole and the buyers didn’t want to do it.

“It is the end of an era, and it is an enormous shame, but it is something we have had to do. But we do want the business to carry on, there are people interested, and we are definitely open to new proposals and ideas. We still have the Brymor name and the recipes plus the equipment.

“My dad worked seven days a week for 30 years, I didn’t want to carry it on myself. But it is a great business, so we’re hopeful it will continue.

Brymor was established at High Jervaulx Farm, near Jervaulx Abbey in Wensleydale, in 1992, after their ice cream success prompted the move from their previous smallholding in the Harrogate area.

The family, Brian and wife Brenda, with son Robert and his wife Diane and Nicola established one of the region's best known ice cream brands and one of the few on-farm makers of dairy ice cream and clotted cream in Britain.

The 213 acre farm, which has a farmhouse and a cottage was home to over 100 pedigree Guernsey cows, which the family always said was the secret of their success, along with a special unique recipe created by an ice cream expert.

They created 35 different flavours, turning the farm into a major tourist attraction with an ice cream parlour, attracting coach trips from across the country and visitors from around the world.

The farm has been sold following the death of Robert Moore last year who had took over the enterprise after his parents died in 2011.

A former business associate of Robert Moore spoke of his sadness at the untimely closure of the firm that inspired his family to follow their lead into the ice cream industry.

David Otterburn of Ryeburn Ice Cream in Helmsley said it is a “crying shame” that Brymor Ice Cream is to close but said he thought it would be very difficult for anyone else to take it on.

He said: “If a large company took over it might not retain the passion that Robert and his family had for the business – but for a smaller, new company, it might be too much of an uphill battle to bring it back to what it once was.”

Mr Otterburn took home Supreme Champion product in the Taste Awards 2014 for his mango yogurt – and in accepting his award he paid tribute to Robert Moore who had inspired and supported him in business.

“He was always there for a chat if you needed it and was generous with his advice, so I felt it was only right to dedicate the awards to him.”

The Guernsey’s have been sold and will be going to a farm in the south, the shop and ice cream parlour is due to close on February 20.