There’s something a little bit special lurking under the stairs at Baytree Nurseries these days – a spot where you can enjoy a proper cup of coffee in a relaxing setting.
The Baytree Coffee Lounge, which is celebrating its first birthday, was the brainchild of Elke Biehler-Birch, who had a vision of bringing homemade cakes and real Barista coffee to the heart of the garden centre owned by her parents.
With the blessing of the centre’s manager Nigel Wallis, Elke joined forces with old college friend Samantha Molyneux to make it a reality.
The two are now joint managers of the shop, which has had to take on more staff – there are now five full full time and five part time workers – to allow Samantha the time to bake all of the coffee shop’s homemade cakes.
Elke said: “We are going from strength to strength, bringing a completely new relaxed and comfortable environment to the garden centre.”
Along with the coffee, the lounge also serves specialist teas, homemade cake, filled panini, toasted sandwiches and wraps, all of which are served with salad garnish and crisps.
There is also Devon-made ice-cream, which they use to make all of their milkshakes too, and Frappes have proved a popular addition to the menu during the warm summer months.
The comfortable seating can accommodate 46 people, and the team at the coffee lounge can also cater for events held in the centre’s upstairs conference room.
Elke added: “We aim to please all tastes and ages and enjoy putting something special together.
“We gain new ideas all the time and our exclusively hand made Belgian chocolates go down a treat as a gift to take home to someone special.
“We always welcome new customers and are thrilled we now have regular customers who often enjoy our special danish pastry and coffee deal.
“We are a happy and hard working team and the customer always comes first.
“We are incredibly proud of how our first year has developed and look forward to enjoying many more years ahead.”
