Craig Trickett, an ice cream man in Earsham, Norfolk, turned his grandson’s bedtime stories into eight books
Craig Trickett runs ice cream vans from a village in Norfolk. The stories he made up about them for his grandson are now a series of eight children’s books.
15 November 2026
Photo: Neil Didsbury, via Beccles and Bungay Journal
Craig Trickett, who runs South Norfolk Ice Cream from the village of Earsham, has published eight children’s books that began as bedtime stories for his grandson, the Beccles and Bungay Journal reported on Thursday.
The stories
Trickett told the paper he started making up the tales several years ago. In them the family’s ice cream vans go on secret adventures with grandad and the grandchildren.
“There is nothing out there for children about ice cream vans,” he said. “So Grandad’s Ice Cream Vans was born.”
The books
He spent the next two and a half years turning the idea into a series. The books are set around Earsham and feature the family’s real vans, with their names and registration numbers. Trickett said they also mention nearby towns and villages, including Bungay, Harleston, Diss and Pulham, and local suppliers and businesses.
Photo: supplied to the Beccles and Bungay Journal
One of the eight is a 72-page Christmas special in which the vans help Santa save Christmas. Part of the proceeds from the series will go to charity.
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