A UNIQUE piece of Italy has come to Malton.

The UK’s first Carpigiani Mr Art ice cream machine has taken pride of place at a new artisan producer in the Talbot Yard.

Groovy Moo is opening its doors at the end of this week and ahead of the grand opening, the Carpigiani model has been imported from Italy and installed at the company’s new food unit.

Michelle Walker and Ashley Smith were inspired to come to Malton when they saw an article about the town becoming Yorkshire’s Food Capital.

Their unit, which includes state-of-the-art ice cream production equipment, an ice cream parlour and storage, is part of the grade II-listed site, off Yorkersgate.

Michelle said: “We were truly inspired by a piece about Malton, Yorkshire’s Food Capital and we just knew that Malton was the place for us to set up our artisan food company.

“We have also had Matteo Carloni from the prestigious Gelato University in Bologna, Italy, fly in to help us with the new equipment and ice cream formulations.”

Tom Naylor-Leyland, director of Malton Food Lovers Festival, said: “We are delighted that Groovy Moo will be ready to trade very soon at Talbot Yard, which has already attracted food producers to town .”