Windermere sisters launch The Bake District Coffee Stop

Hannah and Lucy Gale, alongside their mum Di, launched The Bake District Coffee Stop earlier this year to keep them busy during lockdown.

Hannah, 19, is currently an entrepreneurial business management student at Northumbria University, while Lucy, 22, is a psychology student at Leeds University.

The pair decided to start the business after they were forced to study at home due to the pandemic.

“We’ve both been doing uni work from home the past few months,” said Hannah, from Windermere.

“And we thought, as it’s going to be a busy summer here with not many people able to go abroad, that it would be a really good year to at least try it out and see how it goes.

“We’ve worked throughout studying for our degrees, during holidays, in a few hospitability positions.

“And as part of my degree I get the opportunity to open my own business and baking and cooking is something me, my sister and my mum all love so we thought we might as well do it ourselves.

“We’d saved money for quite a few years from us working and we wanted to invest in our own business.”

SET-UP: The business operates from a van

Operating out of their personalised van the women serve hot beverages as well as sweet and savoury home baked goods and can usually be found in Ambleside, near Rothay Park, and Elterwater several days a week.

The business has already been very busy with the Gales’ first day involving serving ITV production crews while they filmed in Morecambe Bay.

"That was absolutely crazy," said Hannah.

"I got a message on our Instagram page asking if we could serve the crew at 3pm.

"We had no cups or anything, so we had two hours to get everything ready and we headed to Morecambe and it went really well.

“If it carries on going as well as it has been we’d like to carry it on for a few more summers and we’re hoping to get a few events if they go ahead.”

If you would like The Bake District Coffee Stop for an event, contact them on their Facebook or Instagram page.