From a dairy farm to the forefront of the 12 Apostles Coast and Hinterland’s food scene; the story behind Timboon Fine Ice Cream. Timboon Fine Ice Cream is turning 25 in October, but this big milestone could not have been possible without its small and humble beginnings.

Dairy farming is in Tim Marwood’s blood. His grandfather developed early irrigation practices in the 1940s, and his dad was one of the first farmers to milk ‘a cow to the acre’ in the 1970s. It was inevitable Tim would continue the family business but as times changed, he saw a need to evolve the farm’s offerings in order to stay afloat. Creating ice cream seemed like the obvious next step, so Timboon Fine Ice Cream was born in 1999.

In the early days, Tim, his family and friends would gather at home with the blender on their benchtop and start experimenting with flavours with everyone having a say on what they thought did or (more often than not!) didn’t work. It’s a time he looks back on fondly and when he first realised that this business brings so much joy to others. With a couple of flavours up his sleeve, he set out with a steel box trailer and began venturing to local farmers markets as well as to the 12 Apostles site down the road to see what the community and tourists thought of his ice cream. This was a pivotal moment for Timboon Fine Ice Cream as it steered the business into a direction Tim was going against. Having his heart set on creating sophisticated flavour combinations like ‘Shiraz and blackberry’, he quickly found out that when it came to ice cream, a majority of people never veer far from simple flavours or their childhood favourites.  So after his market research, Tim focussed on creating classic ice cream flavours with an artisan flare using local, farm-fresh ingredients including vanilla with perfectly balanced creamy, sweet and woody notes, as well as chunky honeycomb ice cream that is as delicious as it is nostalgic. Tim still gets to flex his creative muscle though with his ‘curiosity flavours’ which saw him recently make mint and jalapeno – a surprisingly popular flavour that got people talking for all the right reasons.

Community is everything to Timboon Fine Ice Cream and it’s not lost on Tim or his family how lucky they are to have such a supportive group around them. Situated in the heart of the town, the shop is always a-buzz with locals and tourists alike who just love to sit with an ice cream in hand and watch the world go by, some with their dogs by their side too, sparking Tim’s latest offering; ‘Scoopys’, an ice cream for your furry four-legged best friend. 

While Timboon Ice Cream has grown, it will always stay true to its humble beginnings of simply being about making people smile, as it did for the first time 25 years ago.