An ice cream parlour has been given a truly Italian flavour with a new Continental-style play area.
Mrs Audrey Wraithmell, who runs Charlotte’s Ice Cream Parlour at Whitley, near Dewsbury, with her husband Geoffrey, said they had decided to buy the play equipment after spotting the design while in Italy.
The large climbing frame is shaped like trees, and features steps, a walkway, circular rope and tunnels to crawl through.
“We had travelled to Longarone to an ice cream exhibition, and one afternoon went up the road into the Dolomite Mountains and stopped for coffee,” said Audrey.
“We had a walk around the village and spotted the play area. It was something different. We hadn’t seen one before. The trees look like trees.
“When we got back Geoffrey trawled the internet and found the company which made them, and we have had one delivered all the way from Italy.
“We had a bit of difficulty as the instructions for building it were in Italian, but we managed!”
Changes at the parlour also include an outside ice cream cabin and Audrey added: “We find that at busy periods there can be long queues inside with people waiting for lunches, coffees and cakes, so we decided to have a cabin outside to serve ice creams and soft drinks.”
The business, named after the couple’s daughter Charlotte who now also works there, features a variety of animals. These include alpacas, two wallabies, donkeys and Jersey cows.
