Spooky season has come and gone in the world of Coffee Can this October. It’s a month that always absolutely flies by because it gets so jam-packed every single year. From the great annual Pumpkin Week hosted at Secrett’s Farm Shop through to pop-up Halloween van events, the supernatural really does take hold, as do the pumpkin spiced lattes.
Before we take a bit of a dive back into the month, let’s take a moment to note what’s been going on with our wonderful team! This month we celebrated the wonderful Caitlin’s birthday. You might remember her as the manager of our Secrett’s Farm Shop café when it first opened? Although she has a full-time job in a totally different industry nowadays, she still drops by to work a couple of shifts in the café each month because quite frankly she cannot get enough of us, and we don’t blame her! So we made sure that Caitlin was suitably spoilt for her birthday.
For our long-term followers, this month also saw the starring return of a really rather important part of the Coffee Can family; our wonderful Zoe came back to help out at the Bourne Pavilion for a week. Sometimes our rotas have pinch points in (with busy event weeks overlapping with holidays etc), and by chance Zoe was on hand to come back to her old stomping ground to lend a hand. Zoe was absolutely instrumental in the growth of the Coffee Can, and the turnout at her leaving do is testament to how appreciated she is by the local community. Our regulars were absolutely over the moon to catch up with her, and we couldn’t be more thankful that she wanted to spend some of her time off with us!
Now, let’s take some time to look back at the month gone by…
Secrett’s Pumpkin Week
Okay, we aren’t working chronologically but let’s just jump straight in – Pumpkin Week at Secrett’s this year was epic. Our busiest month to date at the cafe, and that’s because the people of Milford couldn’t get enough of those pumpkins! For the first time, the team at the farm shop hosted two weekends worth of pumpkin picking. Was the first weekend met by monstrous rain clouds? Absolutely. But that didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of those who were visiting the pick-your-own patch.
Into week two, half term was upon us and with it came an almighty amount of sunshine which was much more like it! Of course at this points the paths were muddy beyond saving, but we think that’s a part of the fun. Head over to the Secrett’s Farm Shop social media to see some of this year’s best-dressed pumpkin pickers, and to see all the photos of this year’s spooky route round the patch.
In the café, the team headed by Gareth and Evie absolutely shone. They were not fazed by the number of takeaway coffee orders filing in and made sure all our daily regulars were taken care of. Our spooky milkshakes were a hit, and half term was a resounding success.
Halloween hoedown with Van Life
In the summer, we spend a wonderful weekend with the vans camping out at the Van Life Eats festival. We absolutely love it every year because
- We love camping
- We love food
- We love converting our vans into mobile coffee bars
It’s a match made in heaven.
So when we were asked to attend their Halloween Hoedown this year, we were most intrigued. Off Cathy went to Newbury Showground, packed with a van full of cakes from Ellie at Hello Bakehouse, and a mountain of coffee beans to keep the attendees caffeinated.
Little did we know just how much caffeine they’d need! There were barn dances, karaoke, fancy dress and even a DJ set by Pat Sharp. It was an absolutely non-stop weekend, and so wonderful to see all the Van life group come together to celebrate the autumn months.
Now… there was one customer who just couldn’t seem to get enough coffee from us, and yet it didn’t seem to be giving them the rejuvenation they needed – let us know your thoughts?
Lights, Camera, Action at the Bourne
We’re just a short walk away from Bourne Woods. As all the locals know, over the years it has become a pretty major backdrop to many a Hollywood blockbuster with film crews rolling in month after month to shoot.
But it came as a bit of a surprise when producers got in touch to let us know that filming would be taking place on our literal coffee shop doorstep on a dreary midweek morning in the middle of the month. Who’d have thought it? The Bourne Green playground the new star of a streaming series?!
Amy and Laura were poised at the windows (between serving flat whites to the crew, obviously) to catch a glimpse of which stars were out and about. It was a really major shoot, lots of gazebos set up with camera rigs poised to get the perfect shot. Was the weather on the producers side? Absolutely not, but we hear they made it work!
So look out for our neck of the woods when you’re streaming in 2025, apparently we’ll be cropping up somewhere!
Farnham Lantern Festival
This year, Farnham hosted its first ever lantern festival. A wonderful way to wrap up the month, with hundreds of locals getting lantern making kits from the Farnham Town Council offices and creating bamboo lanterns which were then customised. With live music in Gostrey Meadows to welcome those who had spent October crafting away, the evening really had a magical feel to it.
But do you know what wasn’t magical? The saga which was going on behind the scenes at the Coffee Can van. Just moments before the first lantern-bearers arrived, and seemingly with no clear cause, Amy’s back went into agonising pain. She couldn’t walk, couldn’t move, was stuck pretty much crouched on the floor, and had no choice but to SOS call Caitlin (who was just finishing work) to come and help out. Before the story goes on, we do want to explain that she is absolutely fine now – it was quite a concerning time, but Amy’s spirits remained high given the pretty extraordinary circumstances of being stuck in the passenger seat of the van!
Caitlin was an absolute trooper, and within what felt like just 10 minutes she was in Gostrey Meadows and ready to serve the public. It now transpires that Amy had somehow managed to sprain ligaments in her spine – because apparently that’s a thing that can happen?! So she spent the lantern festival stuck, unable to really move, in the passenger seat of the van. Meanwhile Caitlin, joined by some of the passing Coffee Can crew, made sure the people of Farnham had hot chocolates to hand ready for the lantern march through the town. We’re very pleased to say that from the customer perspective, nobody knew what was going on behind the scenes. Honestly, that’s down to the superhero Caitlin for jumping into a sporadic van event like it was any other day – she’s a legend.
