Founded in 2009, Rjómabúið Erpsstaðir (Erpsstaðir Creamery) is a family-owned and operated dairy farm and creamery located just outside Buðadalur, along Route 60 that connects the Ring Road to the Westfjörds. The operation has grown tremendously through the years, from its roots as a small-batch ice cream producer selling its products directly from the farm to becoming a well-known destination.
Expect to find a wide variety of dairy products, handcrafts featuring Icelandic wool and local food products, a domestic petting zoo, farm tours, picnic area, and playground activity center. The creamery provides an excellent opportunity to stretch your legs with lots of room to roam, fill your tummy with delicious treats and pick up some unique gifts to take home. Visitors are welcome to get up close and personal with the animals and expend some energy, all while enjoying delicious treats.
This is truly a working farm running about 60 cows and utilizing all the milk from those cows to produce their variety of dairy products. Additional ingredients used are local, seasonal flavors commonly found in Iceland whenever possible. Visitors are welcome to experience all aspects of the dairy products' production and processing, including several types of Icelandic cheeses, traditional skyr, and of course, ice cream!
The creamery specializes in “the flavors of Iceland.” On a recent stop with the 2021 Snorri West participants, we enjoyed such delightful ice cream flavors as dandelion, elderflower, rhubarb, and blueberry, as well as more familiar flavors like peppermint, chocolate, strawberry, mocha, and salted caramel. In addition, they offer a specialty known as skyrkonfekt, a gourmet concoction meant to look like a cow’s udder, made with a skyr center surrounded by a hard white chocolate shell.
The creamery was founded by local farmers Þorgrímur Einar Guðbjartsson, IR#I328625, and Helga Elínborg Guðmundsdóttir, IR#I368356, and is still run with the assistance of their children, and other local residents. My family has been bringing three generations to the creamery since 2016 after meeting one of the family members, Gunnlaug Birta Þorgrímsdóttir, who was visiting Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba as part of the 2016 Snorri West program.
Whenever possible, we plan to stop, see the changes, buy items to bring home, and devour the ice cream! We appreciate this stop for all the reasons previously mentioned, but also because the site is immaculately clean. Be sure to try out the “Ærslabelgur,” which translates to “balloon,” and is a kind of giant canvas bubble that is quite common and very popular throughout Iceland, providing bouncing fun and exercise for all ages.
The creamery continues to explore ways to innovate. In 2018, they received recognition for their efforts by being granted the Fjöreggið award for their pioneering work in food tourism and the development of products from its production. The award is given annually by the Icelandic Food and Nutrition Association, with the support of the Confederation of Icelandic Industries, to celebrate initiatives in the field of food and nutrition.
The creamery holds or participates in various special events from time to time and also has lodging available for rent. https://www.facebook.com/rjomabuid/