The Bombe

Ice cream first reached these shores eight centuries ago in the form of a recipe for orange ice, brought back from the Crusades by Richard Cœur de Lion. It was given to him by Saladin, the great warrior Sultan of Egypt and Syria. Ever since, ices have been firm favourites of the English; the ice-houses buried in hillsides on great estates all over the country bear solid witness to that. Unprotected by our blanket of smog, winters were colder in the past, summers hotter, and only by burying the thick blocks of ice sawn from rivers and ponds after Christmas could they be preserved throughout the summer to provide the delights of iced sweets.