CHARLES II has had his critics down the centuries, but he wasn't called the Merry Monarch for nothing and it seems highly fitting that the first time ice cream appeared on the menu in this country came during his reign. In fact, the King himself was probably among the first to savour it, when it was served at a Windsor Castle banquet in 1671, held to mark the Feast of St George. Sadly, the delectable treat was only destined for royal and aristocratic taste buds for some time, simply because, for years after, the difficulty of storing ice ensured it remained a rare luxury, largely confined to estate owners with ice houses.
It's probably fair to say, therefore, that Covent Garden's third annual Cool Down icecream festival (August 19-September 4) is more the spiritual descendent of the so-called 'Ice Cream King' of Victorian London, the entrepreneur Carlo Gatti (1817-78). Born in Ticino, a poor Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, Gatti had headed for Paris at the age of 12, where he became involved in several small business ventures, before finally arriving in England in 1847. He settled in London's Little Italy, an area of Clerkenwell that was home to many Italians escaping the economic and social turbulence of their homeland. At first, he sold waffles from a cart, but, within two years, he'd opened a coffee house in partnership with a fellow émigré from Ticino, Battista Bolla. The shop made its own chocolate, drawing in curious customers by showing the cocoa roasting behind the shop window.
Denne historien er fra August 03, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 03, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
