Nestled in the leafy streets of Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, you’ll find a treasure serving up seasonal treats guaranteed to put a smile on your dial. Hokey Pokey, an ice-creamery and lolly shop specialising in homemade artisan ice cream, chocolates, and lollies – a must-stop-in on your way through the hills, any time of year!

Owners Tim and Helen McNamara have always had a passion for creating scrumptious dishes that showcase beautifully ripe seasonal and local produce.

Helen (a chef, herself) and husband Tim, owned a restaurant and catering business in St Andrews, Scotland for 7 years before deciding to make the jump across the pond. They quickly settled down in beautiful Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, a close-knit community that offered the family/work life balance they were seeking for their young family of 4.

Tim and Helen took over ownership of the local favourite Stirling chocolate and lolly shop, which has taken pride of place in the main street of Stirling for decades.

They set about putting a modern spin on the local favourite, using locally produced and sourced seasonal ingredients, including Paris Creek Farms Bio-dynamic Organic Milk in their famous artisanal ice cream.

We sat down with Tim and Helen to discuss a little more about their business and love of using local, sustainable, and quality produce throughout their range of artisanal ice cream and treats.

What makes Hokey Pokey unique?

We aim to make the best small batch, artisan ice cream possible using the best quality organic dairy combined with as many homegrown/locally grown seasonal ingredients as possible.

What do you love about the Adelaide Hills?

The Adelaide Hills is a beautiful place to live and work! The pace of life is that bit slower, the air is clear and healthy, the views incredible, and the community wonderful!

How do you support or engage with the local community of Stirling and the greater Adelaide Hills?

If we’ve learnt one thing from the past year it is the importance of our local community in the Hills and in Stirling itself. The support and loyalty we’ve been shown by the local community, especially since the beginning of the pandemic, has been incredible, and humbling.

We love swapping fruit for ice cream, I feel this is really where our community engagement began, and really helped us get to know locals, from someone with excess fruit in a single tree to large scale growers giving us second quality fruit which is perfect for ice cream making. We are proud to give back to our community, through charity initiatives such as vouchers for raffles, donations for fundraisers e.g. at the Bradbury CFS where we donated all profit from ice cream sales, and also schools and other community events.

Why do you love using Paris Creek Farms milk and cream for your ice cream?

The quality of the Paris Creek Farms milk we use is fantastic and makes a marked difference to the taste of the ice cream. The milk is so creamy, fresh tasting and is a fantastic product to work with.

What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?

Definitely our fresh mint choc chip- we infuse Paris Creek Farms Whole Milk with fresh mint (from our garden where possible) for 24 hours, then make the ice cream, finishing it with Belgian dark chocolate. The mint gives it a beautiful light green colour and real mint taste, it’s creamy and delicious, and the chocolate finishes it all off perfectly!

Next time you are passing through the Adelaide Hills, be sure to stop in at this local treasure and stock up on your ice cream fix! There will always be a new favour to discover, with flavours created from seasonal produce sourced from the Adelaide Hills and community gardens.

There is sure to be a treat to satisfy adults and kids alike!

@HokeyPokeyStirling is open 7 days a week, 31-33 Mt Barker Rd, Stirling SA 5152

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