A VILLAGE coffee shop that only opened earlier this year has been nominated for a Countryside Alliance award.

Adele’s coffee shop and team room at Cilgerran was launched back in June by husband and wife team Michelle and David McDonald and has proved such a hit with customers that it has been put forward to be considered for the awards known as 'the rural Oscars'.

The coffee shop is very much a family affair and in a very personal touch, is named after David’s sister, who died from cancer only two weeks before it opened.

“It’s a tribute to her,” said David. “For me, by keeping her name alive and still talking about her, she is very much still around.”

David’s dad Alan and brother John also played a big part in getting the business off the ground, and even young daughter Evie does not mind mucking in when it comes to help clearing up.

And the couple are keen to promote local products and promote the café as a focal point in the community.

“It’s been hard work but it has been well worth all the effort and we have had great support from the village,” said Michelle, a former book keeper who used to run the old village Post office, while David was in the transport business before deciding to concentrate on the new venture.

“It has been a steep learning curve as none of us had a background in this sort of thing,” said Michelle.

“It gives people a chance to get together over a coffee and we already have a couple of clubs that use us regularly.

“We source as much as we can from the local area – such as our coffee from Tanygroes – and make as much in-house as possible. We are now also laying on bistro nights every three weeks as we look to diversify a bit more.”

And it’s not just with the locals that the cafe is going down a storm. On the morning the Tivyside visited, a package had just arrived from across the Atlantic, from Rapid River, in Michigan, containing hand-carved wooden spoons as a gesture of thanks from one happy American visitor.

“He was here for a few days and came in every day and we would chat to him but we never expected anything like this – it’s fantastic,” added Michelle.

Nominations for the Countryside Alliance awards close on December 8. Go to countryside-alliance.org/rural-awards/caawards