IT was love that brought Jenny and her family to a village just outside York three years ago when they "did a little motorhome trip here, visited the area, went back home to Kent and put our home up for sale the next day". A month later the Sharp family with a brood of four kids had made North Yorkshire their home.
In the beginning, Jenny carried on her work as a nurse, taking on a position in A&E for two years throughout the pandemic.
She loved the people and the place, but the work took its toll.
"It was really tough at times, and towards the end I just got a sense of feeling stressed all the time", she recalls. That was when Jenny started to contemplate a change.
When she was stuck inside A&E for 12 hours at a time, getting no natural light, unless she went outside to greet an ambulance, she yearned for a lifestyle outdoors.
So, a job outside was the top of Jenny’s list. At first, she considered pursuing a career as a lumberjack, but then decided to follow her dream of opening up a little coffee shop.
Originally, she’d imagined opening within an indie cinema, but the task was more than she wanted to take on. Stumbling upon a website called Businesses on Bikes she had her Eureka moment.
"I thought to myself, 'I love cycling, we go away doing it as a family and I love coffee!'."
She found a company in Hull called The Big Coffee which converts vehicles into coffee shops. They usually work on vans and it was the first time they took up the challenge of a bike.
"It was a bit of an experiment and it turned out quite fun", laughs Jenny.
So, in February 2022, Jenny set the wheels in motion (so to speak) and The Coffee Bike was born.
Jenny's love of coffee powered her through, and she started by making free drinks for people in her new home, the village of Great Ouseburn, between York and Harrogate.
"At first I was thinking this could be a complete disaster – the village is quite quiet, does anyone even want a coffee?" But thanks to refresher barista lessons from Roost coffee roasters in Malton and serving up their home-roasted beans, people kept coming back for more.
"I love everything about it, I just don’t feel like I’m at work. I never say I’m going to work as it just doesn’t feel like it. Mostly I just love chatting to people, even if they don’t buy a coffee, although I love to give people a hot drink and if they say they really enjoyed it, I just get a little buzz."
She's creating a welcoming spot and adding a little something to village life.
"It’s very friendly, very welcoming, it’s the right mixture of people as well, there’s no cliques, it’s just really, really friendly."
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Jenny and her beloved bike can be found all around the village, whether that’s pitched up outside the post office, beside the village hall or over in Little Ouseburn. If she could, Jenny would love to take the bike to events and weddings spreading her love of coffee and bikes all over Yorkshire.
Her advice to others looking to do something they love is, "just start, stop thinking and do something, and before you know it you’ve quit your job – just do exactly whatever you want to do."
Follow Jenny on Instagram @the.coffee.bike
* This article first appeared in Yorkshire Life magazine. The March edition of Yorkshire Life is out now, available from newsagents and supermarkets across Yorkshire and magsdirect.co.uk. Subscribe at greatbritishlife.co.uk/subscribe/yorkshire/
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