In 1937 Don Summerfield decided to take milk to Rushden (the nearest large town) to sell direct to the customers. At that time, milk was cooled as it came from the cow, and sold (pasteurisation was only at the much larger dairies). Because milk drawn from the cows in the morning and in the late afternoon, deliveries to the customers were also twice daily (a practice carried out by quite a number of dairy men), the afternoon milk was sold the following morning and the morning milk sold in the afternoon.

At this time milk was mostly sold direct from a 3-gallon hand can, carried to the customer’s door and transferred to their jug or basin by means of a ¼, ½ or 1 pint hand measure. (The measures were checked and stamped by the Weights and Measures Authority, as true.)

Rushden was, for the duration of the War, designated into zones, to save on costs. Depending on the size of each business, roads were allocated to each dairyman. Allen, Blinco, Cromwell, Grafton, and Lawton roads on the ‘Rock Estate’, with Birchall and Chester roads, and Westfield Avenue made up the round.

	C Summerfield & Son bottle and detail from a pressed glass milk bottle Photograph by Dan Brownsword

About 1939 Don moved from Melchbourne to live at the corner of Wellingborough Road and Oakley Road, with a cold store behind the house. The business remained there until about 1950, when a move was made to much larger premises in Griffith Street. Here the business was expanded, and eventually moved to Irthlingborough. It was eventually taken over Northern Dairies.