More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
After years of travelling around the world, a couple who moved back to the UK when the pandemic hit have used the extra time on their hands to restore an old camper van into their dream business.
It took Olivia Slate, 24, and Aron Engels, 26, from Offham just 60 days to completely renovate a VW Camper into a mobile Swiss café they have named the Little Travelling Bean.
The pair moved to Kent in March after two and a half years exploring Australia, south Asia and living in Switzerland where Mr Engels is from, when the impact of the pandemic first took its toll.
To keep themselves busy, they decided to take the plunge and start the alpine inspired mobile café.
They saved up and bought the vehicle in August and spent hours each day transforming it until it could officially launch on December 2, as England's national lockdown was lifted.
From wiring, designing and sewing cushions, the couple did all the renovations themselves adding personal touches helped by the fact Mr Engels is also a car mechanic.
They now travel to set locations around Tonbridge and Malling serving their Swiss hot chocolate and alpine inspired baked goods.
Miss Slate who grew up in the village said: "We put so much time into it, it doesn't seem real that it's finally up and running.
"When we moved back to Kent it got us thinking about what we wanted to do and we thought about buying another camper because we had one in Australia.
"We have always wanted our own coffee van but it has never been the right time but we bought it, started restoring it, and we finished in mid October.
"There were days when it was raining and it was freezing cold but we got through."
During their first day of trading outside the Kings Arms in Teston Road, they sold more than 200 cups of hot drinks in the morning alone.
While unable to quit the day jobs just yet, Miss Slate and Mr Engels hope one day they can run the café full time while travelling across the UK and Europe.
