A COUPLE have taken on a new lockdown venture, selling coffee and cakes from a horse box.

Dayne Cartwright said he and his partner Tracey Terry “always had the dream and ambition” to set up their own business, with both previously holding senior roles within the national hospitality business.

Dayne said: “With Covid, we felt it was time to take the bull by the horns and start up an idea that has been bubbling in the background for many years – to create a new coffee brand that really brought coffee and cake to the community.”

Setting up in a horse box, Acorns Coffee and Cake was born. The couple work from the BASE Innovation Centre on Monday and Tuesday, at the Forest Centre between Lidl and Wilko from Wednesday to Saturday, and at Anstey Park in Alton on Sunday.

Dayne said: “We are proud to work so closely with our community and use local suppliers for our coffee, cakes and even Bordon businesses for our gas supply, accounting, design and printing.

“We have been trading for four weeks and the response has been overwhelmingly positive – it’s meant a few 3.30am starts and late nights in the kitchen but it is worth every minute to delight our customers. It is the positive reviews, repeat business, kind comments or even a simple wave of passers by that we want to thank people for.

“It makes the dream ever more a reality day by day.”