FOUR SEASONS Café in Camelford has ben taken over by a couple who are keen to see positive change in the town.

Their message? Scrap plans for parking charges in Churchfield car park, provide opportunities and support for youngsters, and make Camelford into ‘Camelot’!

The café, situated by the river along Market Place, can be spotted by motorists and pedestrians as they come into Camelford. Taken over by Sue and Paul Isherwood in October 2018, the café is going through positive developments to reinforce its position as a real community asset.

Sue, formerly a project manager for an autism charity, and Paul, an ex-tram driver, both originally from Manchester, previously had a food van at Par Market. When they sold up, they saw that the Four Seasons was up for sale.

“We live in Camelford, so it was ideal,” Sue said. “The sale fell through, but through the powers of the internet, we found it was up for sale again and we just went for it!

“We knew we had to do some work to it with things like organisation and equipment, but we really didn’t want to take away from the Cornish, eclectic feel of it.”

Paul is in charge of cooking, while Sue admits she puts her hand to ‘all of it’. They have three part-time waitresses, Amy, Megan and Ruby, while their daughter Caden helps in the kitchen.

“We’re all about giving youngsters a chance, and I think running a manic environment like this, younger people can handle it better than us. They adapt to coping with a busy and hectic workplace — so that’s just our ethos. We’ve had people in for work experience, so we’ve had them doing kitchen work, serving, things like that. We’re trying to give youngsters a chance.

“We’re both still quite young at heart in a way, and we have a bit of banter — that’s just how we do things here.”

Sue and Paul have lived in Camelford with their daughters for nearly four years. “It’s just the greatest place to live,” Sue said. “We want to be a part of the Camelford community. We want anyone in town to think, ‘we’ll just pop along to get a full English at the local caf’, or ‘let’s pop in and say hello to Sue’ — and I think people are starting to do that. It’s comedy gold in here, I’ll tell you that!”

One thing that has really stayed with Sue is the recent visit from the pupils at Camelford Primary School. “Thirty-two came in because they wanted to learn from the local businesses where they get their things from. I think it was a bit of a learning curve for them.

“Then two weeks ago, a local family came in because their little girl had been pestering her parents to come here, because she was absolutely fascinated by Paul. They came in, and then the mum asked if she could go into the kitchen to say hello to him, and that was so lovely.

“We then had a letter and the teacher came in with a box of chocolates and a card from all the children. It was really touching for us, it was so cool for us to get that feedback. It means a lot.”

Since the children’s visit, Sue and Paul are asking for local schools and organisations to make decorations for their new tea garden, which is being developed at the back of the cafe, to overlook the river.

Four Seasons is currently open six days a week, with further hours to be introduced as summer approaches. Sue said: “We’re putting our heart and soul into it.”

Another focus is on catering for customers with dogs. Recently, they had a couple from Germany stop by with their nervous rescue dog. Sue suggested seating them in the corner by the window, so that the dog could quietly sit by his owners’ feet, without feeling threatened by the busy atmosphere.

“Afterwards, they came up and thanked us. The dog had been really abused before they rescued him, and this had been the best experience they had had in Cornwall. This is the little place we love, and we try and do all we can for our customers. We treat them as friends.

“We’ve kept the menu and essence of how it already was — the food has always been really good and it has been developed really well by Karen, who owned it before. We wanted it to be a cafe like no other, so we’ve just been adding to it.”

While Sue and Paul revel in their work, and enjoy every moment, there are some changes in town that concern them. “The car park (Churchfield car park) is the biggest bug bearer I’ve got. As someone with lupas and arthritis, and who is technically disabled, the charges the town council are proposing is quite concerning for me. While I don’t mind paying for a £25 permit, Camelford is known for having a free car park. People can come and park up for an hour, do their shopping and don’t have to worry about it.

“I feel charging people to park there will have such a negative impact on getting people into Camelford. The town is known for walkers, it’s not a tourist area in the slightest. We want to put Camelford back into the town.

“Unless the town council can come up with putting Camelford on the tourism map, then this change is going to have a really negative impact. And when the takeaways and chippies open, it will be even worse. You get enough cars parking along the streets already — and air quality is going to be a big issue with that. You see cars parking by the chippy all the way to the cafe just for people to go to the Chinese. It’s a real safety issue for anyone.”

But with the concern surrounding the car park, Sue is keen to continue Four Seasons’ role in the community. “We’ve contributed to the larder (Camelford Community Larder) and we’ve been open during the Christmas lights and carnival events. It’s part of the community, this cafe, and if we can all club together, I think we can change the current decisions on the car parking.”

One of the ways in which this issue could be tackled, Sue believes, is through improved tourism — and she has a theory on how the town could look at this.

“Why is Camelford not Camelot? When we first moved down here, I had no idea about King Arthur and all the myths and legends — it’s amazing, and we need to use that to our advantage! If we can get more tourism, we will be bringing more money into the community.

“As an ex-project manager for an autism-focused charity, I have experience in dealing with lottery grants and things like that. Camelford has so much potential, we need to be singing from the same song sheet. I just think we need to be thinking about the people of the town, and not our egos.

“I come from Manchester, where there was absolutely no community spirit, so to come here and see the way people come together as they do in Camelford, is amazing. During the snow a few weeks ago, we had to abandon our car outside the Mason’s Arms, and this young lad came up to us and asked if we needed any help. We were fine, but it was just the thought and consideration from him — it was lovely to see. He’s a young lad with ethos in his brain, and that’s what I think is so important in this town. You might not know your neighbour, but you can rely on each other during times of need.”

Despite the majority of the local community being kind and willing to help others, the reported incidents involving vandalism is still on the rise in town.

However, Sue believes providing the right support can lead people in the right direction. “It gets me in the pit of my stomach,” she said. “And the police are helpless really because they need to focus on serious crimes. But for a small town like Camelford, these are serious crimes. We need to get to them and eradicate this behaviour. Camelford will get over it.

“Vandalism is like a punch in the stomach. We worry about our business because we’ve got big windows and they could easily target us, and we’re trying to create this space out the back for everyone’s benefit.

“Criminality builds and builds, and if it starts from a young age, it just explodes. If we can get them out of this cycle and offer support, then we will be able to help them. The root of the problem is the parents.”

Despite change — whether looking at it as a positive or negative — Sue still enjoys every moment at Four Seasons.

She said: “We love it. It might not make us millionaires, but life’s too short. There’s no point being in a job you hate, that’s why we moved to Cornwall. We started with absolutely nothing, but with people getting to know us, it really gets us through. We’re creating a community caf, and we do a fairly good cup of coffee too. I’m no baker, but I’m embracing the homemade thing, and it seems to be working.”

Sue and Paul hope to introduce more evening hours going into the summer months, and are planning on hosting a few speciality evenings. They also hope to expand their hours to open seven days a week.

“It’s not just about tourism, it’s about the locals coming in for a full English or a cup of tea and a chat with their friends. All three girls we have working for us are really local, literally living just up the road, and that’s the essence we want here — giving Cornish people a job, because it can be extremely difficult here.

“Poverty, crime, opportunities for people — those are the things we’ve got to tackle first. Let’s tackle things affecting people first. We’ve got all these things offering so much potential in Camelford, we’ve got to utilise them.”