The Inside - a space to connect, create and be.

Aim

To develop a space that supports and nurtures our mental, emotional, physical, spiritual self in an curated community-focused coffee house

The beginning and vision

Building our resilience, creating a place that protects ourselves, our souls and our future generations is the anchor of The Inside. 

Our vision for some time has been to transform an old disused pavilion into a destination - for a few hours in the day it will offer exceptional food and coffee, provide take-away makers meals for little ones to refuel their bodies and settle their minds with a mini craft, and host silent disco headphones loaded with the very best in the podcast world to inspire, direct and support.

The importance of space

But it is also about creating a space. A space we can visit, on a lunch break, with wee ones, with friends or with yourself, somewhere we can sit and just BE. Whether that is for 48 seconds before the interrupted kid call, a 20 minute read of some Happy News, or the holy grail of relaxed lunch dates. 

The Inside needs to be a holistic place that nourishes our body through beautiful food and drink, inspires our mind with our audio offering and readings and nurtures our souls with classes, workshops and courses. We want to create a destination that responds to our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual selves. A destination that works to create the very best of us, the best of our kids, teenagers and future generations. 

Creative workshops, holistic sessions, life-coaching drop-in's, women's circles, youth groups and mat classes will all take place once the coffee house shuts for the day. We are collaborating with the very best teachers, practitioners and businesses. They will be bringing acupuncture, mediation, life coaching, counselling, yoga, park fitness, music, reflexology, first aid and hypnobirthing teachings to this incredible place.  

Our collaborators will be using this space in the afternoon's for free, no venue charge, no fee. Free. The kick forward is that a place will be offered free of charge for those on lower incomes, because these life-enhancing therapies, interventions and practices should be there for us all.  

From the inside to the outside

The building and interior style will breathe its ethos - with etchings of affirmations on bathroom mirrors, acts of kindness for people to dig into or contribute toward, words of our wisdom to pick up or to add your own. A calming, welcoming, enriching and exciting space that will create a lasting impression.

If we can make this happen, The Inside will bring something unique, something desperately needed to Tunbridge Wells. And who knows, if it all goes swimmingly we may pop up in other towns, or, even better, inspire another mum to create something similar! 

Creating a reward-based crowdfund

Our rewards have been curated and designed to bring you something simply stunning, just in time for the big C word (this maybe more luck than actual time-planning!!). Whether you're mystically minded, a hand-dye yarn fanatic, local liver looking for money off park fun, festival goer, a freckles craft party fan or simply a human being who GETS this and wants to see us reach and grab hold of the stars, we're hoping our list will tickle your fancy!

Our crowdfund is created with as much love as we will put into the inside - because we understand the energy you've put into earning. Its a long stretch target, £10k gets us open, £13k gets us open with bells, free welcome coffee mornings, free creative craft sessions, free crowdcrochet clubs. The extra target gives us the energy we dream of creating. 

A typical day at The Inside. 

Doors open at 9am for hand baked pastries, overnight oat jars, a wake-up shot or a Fine Grind specialist coffee. You can pick up some happy news, pop on and plug into our on-hand podcasts, or simply just be for a moment or two. 

People will come and go. We'll bring out lunch service from luscious fig and prosciutto toasted sandwiches to Weald Smokery trout, big salads aimed at refuelling and energising and a Plant Base offering for those treading the Vegan path. We'll encourage and reward reusable cups and your own takeaway plates. You can add to (or take away from) our act of kindness jar - a free coffee, a simple message of support, or even a mini make-away craft kit - this is the jar to make other smile and you smile on the inside. 

Once the café closes at 2pm, the doors will open for classes. It could be yoga, crystal mediation, fitness group or life-coaching. It maybe a youth group, women's circle or men's square. The commonality being that each one of these will help support, nurture, protect and build our physical, mental, emotional or spiritual self. 

And then The Inside rests for the night, ready for another day. Ready to connect our community over chatter, coffee and classes. 

It's over to you guys. 3 years in the making. So much procrastination. A whole load of love, energy and hope is built into this crowdfund. Please help us reach, make and create this space.

Forever thankful

Laura xxx

ps - this is part of an INSANE initiative by Natwest. They will match fund (up to £5k) this crowdfund which means that total midnight waking fear of a £10k target is beautifully halved! As soon as we reach £2.5k they inject £5k and then we need to reach the final £2.5k for their funds to be released! By no means do I see this as a simple target and my nights are still weighted with the enormous task ahead but I am forever hopeful that, together, this will become and be.

This project successfully funded on 31st October 2019