A WEE COUNTY ice cream shop has scooped up five awards at an industry standard competition.

Penny Licks Tillicoultry picked up a gold and four bronze at the Royal Highland Show Scottish Ice Cream Championships last month.

This is the second year in a row that Penny Licks have won awards at the championships, following on from an impressive debut having only opened in 2022.

The shop, managed by Stephen Sloper, took gold for their old fashioned vanilla and bronze for their strawberry, chocolate, sorbet and standard vanilla entries.

“We did really well,” he said. “It’s really good to get those awards, particularly for our old fashioned vanilla.

“The only other gold in the vanilla category went to a Glasgow-based firm who have been making ice cream for more than 100 years, while we’ve only been doing it for two years.

“It puts us in good standing with the ice cream community.”

This is a bigger haul from their first entry into the competition, wherein Penny Licks won a silver and two bronzes.

The Highland Show championships are considered to be among the biggest ice cream championships in the country.

Penny Licks opened in July 2022 and celebrated their two year anniversary last month, with the award success topping off a good second year in business.

“The local support we have had has been great,” Stephen added. “We’ve had a lot of repeat customers who visit the shop four or five times a week.”