At the Rural Coffee Caravan we know that isolation doesn’t have to mean loneliness. To ward off loneliness people of all ages need connection.
Welcome to our website
Rural Coffee Caravan creates social spaces in rural places.
Knowing what’s going on in our own communities isn’t always easy. It is especially difficult if access to transport is limited, or the village shop or pub or post office has gone or you live in one of Suffolk’s very scattered parishes.
The Rural Coffee Caravan (affectionately know as ‘the Coffee Caravan’) exists to help rurally isolated people in Suffolk access services and information to improve their lives, health and wellbeing, and to bring people together, empowering and strengthening rural communities. We work to alleviate loneliness and social isolation by providing occasions that engender conversations, leading to people feeling more a part of their community. Our service is free and accessible to everyone.
We think that loneliness is everyone’s business, now more than ever.
Follow the links above to find out more about Rural Coffee Caravan visits, about the various projects and initiatives we deliver across Suffolk, and take a look at our virtual leaflet rack and digital noticeboard. We share signposting information online!
If you have a question or enquiry, we’d love to hear from you – just click the button below!
Our News
Calling all Suffolk pubs and cafes – MeetUpMondays™ needs you!
As colder temperature begins to breeze in, the warmth of a familiar, hospitable place and regular, friendly faces goes such a long way to abating the loneliness and isolation that accompanies this season. MeetUpMondays helps [...]
Official Opening of The Rural Coffee Caravan Office in Walsham le Willows
On Friday 30th August The Rural Coffee Caravan held a friendly and informal event celebrating the official opening of its very first office! Our guest of honour and landlord Richard Martineau kindly [...]
Sweden comes to Suffolk
We were so thrilled to have Föreningen Sveriges Socialchefer and Suffolk County Council with us at our Hitcham visit yesterday. (FSS is an independent social policy association that, based on profession and available knowledge, [...]
Sally’s Community Quilt
On Wednesday 20th March we held a very special Coffee Caravan style Afternoon Tea in Sapiston to celebrate Sally (the founder of the Rural Coffee Caravan) stepping down as Chairman of Trustees and assuming her [...]
We attended the Coffee Caravan event in Brandon last year, we were very pleased to be invited to such an informative and interesting day!It was packed full of stands with information and help for the local community. We certainly made some new contacts. We hope to do it again later this year.
The coffee was good too !!!!
Dave, Roger, Harold & myself attended Shotley, Brandon & Red Lodge with our Meccano, Hornby displays last year.We had a very enjoyable time at each visit with lots of interest on our respective displays. The organisers went out of their way to ensure our attendance went without a hitch, food & drink was well presented and all attendees where very friendly and helpful.
Hope we can help you all again sometime this year.
The Coffee Caravan has been visiting Redlingfield for two years now and from a population of not much more than 100 we get a turn-out of 20-plus for their visits.I would urge any village – large or small – to consider the benefits of their visits. If they stopped, many villagers would miss the regular meetings with the exceptionally friendly and well informed staff and volunteers.
Thank you so much for your regular visits to our Village Lunch mornings in Stansfield village. Our village lunch attracts people from several of the surrounding villages, as well as residents of Stansfield.We are most grateful for this useful resource, and its always a pleasure to have you join us, Garry.
Long may the Rural Coffee Caravan continue to enhance our life in this area of Suffolk.
I would like to thank you for your valuable advice about the possibilities available from MSDC for various aspects of funding for our Village Hall project.As you know our new building is now finished and will be officially opened on July 7th.
Thank you for a lovely morning and the lift home. I really enjoyed meeting everyone. Please could you pass my thanks also to the gentleman who made me such a lovely cup of tea, I’m afraid I’ve forgotten his name though.After I’ve finished this e-mail I’ll be searching Amazon for the cookbook you were telling me about.
On behalf of the Rattlesden Good Neighbours Scheme I would like to thank the Coffee Caravan and its helpers for visiting Rattlesden.We feel that the Rural Coffee Caravan is essential as it encourages rural villages, like ours,to do the things they have always done but that somehow were forgotten. It is so good that they are reminding us what “community” is about.
We look forward to further visits.
Rural Coffee Caravan has given Ashbocking residents a friendly, confidential, impartial source of information for a variety of services and organisations, as well as a good reason to meet and share ideas together, with easy activities, coffee and cake!Perfect!