Elizabeth Keyser photo

Ice cream outside at Ferris Acres

It's that time of summer when we're hit by how little of summer is left. We've spent too much time working and not enough at the beach. Quick fix? Ice cream. Time seems to slow down. Worries are forgotten. The only thing on your mind is making sure the melting ice cream doesn't drip onto your clothes. So we took to the road to sample Fairfield County's celebrated ice cream offerings.

My favorite place, Gelatissimo (26 Forest St., New Canaan, (203) 966-5000), makes gelato, which has less fat and air than ice cream and is served at a higher temperature, making the flavors more intense. The native Italian owners make an ever-changing selection of gelato on site every day. I'm always tempted by the beautiful hues of the offerings, but I always order the same things. The chocolate gelato is dark and deeply chocolatey, and my true favorite is the chocolate hazelenut, a combination made in heaven. The décor is modern and Euro, a welcome change from the nostalgic settings of so many ice cream "shoppes."

Ferris Acres Creamery (144 Sugar St., Newtown, (203) 426-8803, www.ferrisacrescreamery.com), open April through October, is a real commercial dairy farm, family-owned. The ice cream is made on the farm, but not made with cream and milk from the farm. Emily, the sweet, friendly granddaughter of the owner, explained they don't have a Pasteurizer on site. "It's too expensive," she said. Instead, Ferris Acres buys milk and cream from Guida. We tried the chocolate, cow trax (peanut butter, caramel swirl and chocolate chip), pistachio and maple walnut. All the flavorings were intense and the ice cream was rich and creamy. The cow trax was our favorite. The pistachio was an alarming shade of mint-green and tasted of almond extract. Also, the drive through the hills of Newtown was pretty.

Lastly, I took my young charges to have Mr. Shane's ice cream at Deborah Ann's Sweet Shoppe (381 Main St, Ridgefield. (203) 438-0065, www.deborahanns.com). The place was filled with children, many of them in the state of delirium that a shop full of candy evokes. My 10-year-old niece ordered Oreo ice cream with Oreo topping and felt like she'd hit the jackpot. We sat on a outside on a bench, surrounded by children licking ice cream cones. The children were silenced, contented smiles all round.