In search of the perfect way to celebrate the arrival of autumn and the last few warm days, I picked a beautiful, sunny Friday afternoon to head to Flayvors of Cook Farm. Located in a picturesque area off Route 9 in nearby Hadley, one can find Cook Farm relatively easily by looking for their famous Holstein and Jersey cattle. Cook Farm has been handed down through three generations of the Cook family over the course of nearly a century. As winners of the Premier Breeder title at the Massachusetts State Show for the past 17 consecutive years, they're serious about their cows, and it shows. Not only do they sell dairy products, but they also put their cows' champion genetic material on the market; check out their Web site for information on how you can purchase your very own cow embryo or bull from one of the farm's finest families to start your own line of champion bovines. Their most acclaimed family line is the Fayvors (no that's not a typo).
Flayvors itself is located in a charming little wooden barn, and has all the ambience of a rural general store. On one side is Flayvors' restaurant, which offers typical New England foods such as baked potatoes, chili and other types of soup. It's airy and comforting, and spacious enough to guarantee that there is no need for a reservation. The ice cream counter is on the other side, along with the dairy cases, where one can find fresh dairy products including cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, butter and milk in flavors from chocolate to orange cream (and plain, of course). In between the two sides, one can find all sorts of knickknacks and souvenirs, like homemade maple syrup, candles, postcards and cow collectibles.
After exploring, it was at last time for ice cream. As my friend ordered, I looked over Flayvors' flavors, which range from your basic chocolate and vanilla to signature flavors, named for Inez and Ginger, two of their cows; "Inez" is coconut ice cream with almonds and chocolate chips, while "Ginger" is, not too surprisingly, ginger-flavored. Like I said, their pride in their cows shows. There are also a variety of seasonal special flavors-from these, I opted for pumpkin ice cream, in hot fudge sundae form, with sprinkles and a cherry, of course. My partner in crime had a cookie dough sundae, which must have been quite good, since it was gone by the time I had taken two bites of my ice cream.
Since the weather was nice, we were able to eat on a wooden bench and table outside, mere feet away from the cows who provided the milk in our ice cream, and some small children who, like us, found this quite entertaining. It's not often that one pays much mind to the whipped cream on a hot fudge sundae, but Flayvors' whipped cream was out of this world. This was a great start. The pumpkin ice cream, as could be expected, was fabulous and fresh-like homemade pumpkin pie, sweet and rich with spices, only quite a bit colder. Though I haven't been to Bart's recently, I would venture that Flayvors' pumpkin ice cream is much better than Bart's. The hot fudge-which was suitably warm and rich-was amply loaded on, and I had some to spare (but no complaints here!). Afterwards, we paid our thanks to the black-and-white Holsteins and brown Jerseys for their role in creating these tasty treats. I grabbed an iced coffee and we departed, already planning what flavors (or flayvors, as the case may be) we'd select next time around, in a cone, frappe, ice cream float or sundae. So when you're ready to admit that you want some ice cream-some really, really good ice cream-and that farm animals are still capable of entertaining you, head to Flayvors of Cook Farm for a quintessential Western Massachusetts experience.