Catch Lola if you can

This year, natural fragrance house Ffern is bottling the golden-hour glow and driving it across England. Meet Lola: part-vintage ice cream van, part-roving art installation, and entirely too charming to ignore. Lovingly restored and dipped in the exact shade of “sunset seen through rosé,” Lola is hitting the road from 22 June to 6 July to celebrate Ffern’s Summer 25 scent in the most Ffern-ish way possible, with a sorbet that smells as good as it tastes.

Crafted by La Grotta Ices’ talented Kitty Travers, the Pink Sky At Night sorbet is a dreamy blend of white peach, Tarocco blood orange, and Corsican pink grapefruit with just a dash of marigold oil. It’s entirely plant-based, made with over 70% fruit, and designed to evoke the ephemeral, bright spirit of the perfume itself; it's the kind of sorbet that makes you want to write a love letter to summer.

Originally built in Britain in 1972, Lola has been lovingly reimagined by Ffern with an electric engine and a cinematic new role in the brand’s Pink Sky At Night short film. Shot in Cornwall and starring Eva Morgan, Forrest Campbell, and, no biggie, Bill Nighy, the film follows two siblings navigating one unforgettable summer. Think nostalgia, the sea, and that golden, beaming feeling that you only get during the last five minutes of sunlight.

Each stop on Lola’s route, which includes London, Brighton, Bristol, Bath, and Manchester, with settings like Somerset House and the Holburne Museum, is a mini celebration. Visitors can sample the sweet sorbet, spritz the perfume, and, if luck’s on their side, uncover a golden ticket hidden at every location. The prize? A Summer 25 Perfumer’s Candle, in recycled stainless steel and dressed with enamel artwork. 

In an age of digital fatigue and artificial everything, Ffern’s summer offering is refreshingly analogue: a scent you can smell, a sorbet you can taste, and a van you can chase down the A303. It’s a reminder that good things are often fleeting, and better for it.