Fancy an ice cream? From Keiem you don't have to go far. Just across the border, in the Oostendestraat in Beerst, lies Den IJsbol ("the scoop"): a family dairy farm where the ice cream is churned with the milk of their own cows. The chain can hardly get any shorter.
A family business since 1978
In 1978 Rik and Christelle took over the farm, and it has since grown into a true family business. Today their sons Stijn and Dieter run the dairy herd, the beef cattle and the arable farming, and father Rik helps out wherever he can. Isabel, Stijn's wife, and mother Christelle turn the fresh milk into farm dairy products and, of course, ice cream. "The tastiest branch of the business is of course the ice cream," they said on the Flemish Day of Agriculture.
From milking robot to scoop
Den IJsbol is a mixed farm. According to its own website, it has about 220 dairy cows with their young stock, milked by a milking robot, good for about 33 litres of milk per cow per day. There is also a herd of about 180 Belgian Blue cattle, the typical Belgian beef breed, raised under the Belbeef quality label. Grass, maize, winter wheat, beets and beans grow on 110 hectares, mainly as feed for the animals.
Eleven flavours and more
The farm ice cream comes in eleven flavours: vanilla, chocolate, mocha, praline, stracciatella, speculoos, strawberry, raspberry, passion fruit, banana and pistachio. Take it home in litre tubs, in single-serve pots or as an ice lolly. You will also find:
- fresh butter, churned every week and wrapped by hand;
- buttermilk and fresh milk by the litre;
- yoghurt, pudding and chocolate mousse;
- butter and sugar waffles and real yeast pancakes made to an old-fashioned recipe;
- jam and farm meat from their own Belgian Blue cattle;
- ice cream cakes (from €4 per person) and ice cream lambs for First Communion parties.
A shop based on trust
The farm shop is an honesty shop. You take your products from the fridge or the freezer and pay in the letterbox or with Payconiq. The self-service corner with dairy and ice cream is open every day.
Den IJsbol is also at the market every week, with ice cream, dairy and waffles and pancakes baked on the spot: on Thursdays in Ostend, on Fridays in Koksijde and on Saturdays in De Panne. And on Whit Monday you will find them at the Butter and Cheese Festival (Boter- en Kaasfeesten) in Diksmuide.
Visiting with a class or group
Den IJsbol takes part in the Flemish school programmes Met de klas de boer op and Melk4kids. Classes come to see the cows and calves, help with feeding and make their own ice cream, butter, waffles or pancakes. Groups of up to 100 people can also book a tour, from a visit with an ice cream (€5 per person) to a tour with pancakes or burgers made from their own beef. A renovated barn recently became a new venue for parties, meetings and team building. Would you rather hire the ice cream cart for a party? That's possible too.
Staying in the polders
The family also rents out two large holiday homes in Beerst. In 2018 they appeared on the VTM television programme Met Vier in Bed.
- Hof ter Blote (Beerstblotestraat 14) is a restored farmhouse right on the Yser, for up to 29 people in 8 rooms.
- Hof ter Beerst (Alfons Van Heestraat 75), on the edge of the village with a view of the Handzame valley, sleeps 35 people in 11 rooms and has its own escape game.
And guests get a tip: a visit to 't Kakelend Kippenmuseum in Keiem.
Read also: Kaasmakerij 't Dischhof · Camperhoeve De Bonterie · 't Kakelend Kippenmuseum
Contact
Den IJsbol (the Ghyselen family)
Oostendestraat 95, 8600 Diksmuide-Beerst, Belgium
Phone +32 474 38 79 87
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: ijsbol.be · Facebook
Sources: ijsbol.be (farm, farm shop, group visits and holiday homes), Lekker van bij ons, Met de klas de boer op, Melk4kids, Proef Diksmuide 2025 (City of Diksmuide), Bezoek Diksmuide, Visit West-Vlaanderen, Toerisme Westhoek, Dag van de Landbouw and Met Vier in Bed (VTM, 2018). Photos: Den IJsbol.