Cafe

It will be a café that people will enjoy coming to, with a welcoming atmosphere of warmth and informality.

The café will provide a place for people to meet each other on a drop-in basis – a need expressed by the community.

Our café will give a lead by example in sourcing all food as locally as possible, by providing exciting plant-based menu choices, and in participating with local initiatives to use surplus food for community benefit, thereby creating as little waste as possible.

This information centre will be a place to share with each other what we are learning about climate action as a community, and what individuals can do through lifestyle choices. There will be wall displays with information about low carbon living.

It will also be a way of reaching people much more widely, because this area is one of striking natural beauty, and many visitors come here, and will be attracted to visit the café.

The building will be a centre of this project, and as such will demonstrate what can be achieved even in an old building, with high specification insulation, ground source heating, and renewable energy. The outcome will be increased education on the environment, climate change and low carbon living, through provision of information on display boards and tables.

A café will help to reduce isolation, and foster growth of friendships. Several individuals expressed again at our open day that they feel lonely especially through the winter, and would value somewhere to meet others, which a café would provide.

There is a lack of employment opportunities here without commuting, and the café will provide jobs open to local people, starting with a few, and we hope increasing as the café expands its customer base.

In addition, we plan to provide training opportunities in the café for teenagers, and the possibility of part time work to build up their work experience.