Volunteers who have worked hard to create a community initiative in Great Barton deserve a cuppa after the new café opened its doors.

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Freedom Café is now open in Mill Road four days a week, offering coffee, tea and treats.

The foyer of Freedom Church has been transformed into a funky, purpose-built café serving locally-roasted coffee from F&E coffee, of Moreton Hall, and homemade cakes by Bluebell Cakes, of Stanton.

The opening is the culmination of months of planning, work parties and a joint church effort to refurbish the area.

Volunteer Lizi Long, who will be working in the café two of its four mornings a week, said: “We were thinking ‘how can we serve the community best?’ and we realised we had some space in the foyer we could turn into a café area. We wanted to create a really excellent space where people could enjoy excellent coffee and proper cakes. There’s nowhere like it in Great Barton.”

The café caters for all ages, with the coffee shop-style setting in the foyer and a family-friendly lounge with indoor climbing frame, colouring table, books and boxes of toys.

On Tuesday mornings Lizi runs the Freedom Tots Café there, including a singing session, from 10.30am.

“For us, it is a real community initiative. It is not just about having a coffee shop, but it is about creating something everyone can be a part of,” said Lizi.

“The dream for Freedom Café is that it becomes the heart of the community, where people connect with each other, share life together and where community is born.”

The café is opens Tuesday-Friday, 9am-1pm, with the hope it might extend hours and days in the future.