Newquay Orchard and Heart & Soul Cafe

The Newquay Orchard project is a 7-acre community space in the heart of Newquay. It has an amazing 600+ volunteer strong team to cater and care for the site and community needs. There is a traditional orchard, a community grow space, a wood workshop and a forest garden. The Heart & Soul cafe is a fantastic hub and here you can also find shared office space as well as a beautiful outdoor theatre venue. There are lots more plans in the works including development of more community spaces and enhancement of the Den area where children can enjoy forest school activities.

The story began back in 2015 and with a group of dedicated volunteers to build vibrant community space providing environmental education, mental health services, community events, employability services and training.

Earlier this year some of the Access Cornwall Accessibility Reviewers visited Newquay Orchard and commented that they loved the site and received a warm welcome from the team at Newquay Orchard. It is a wonderful venue for the local community and offers an inclusive space and environment for the local area. The cafe and office space is very accessible and the team are working hard to make the space as inclusive as possible for everyone.

Heart & Soul Cafe is beautiful and highly accessible, as are the office space and classroom area with a lovely feel. The Cafe has good level access, big wide doors and large spaces are made homely with additions of plants and considered furniture. The advertising was at eye level for wheelchair users which was a great observation for inclusion. Just outside the cafe is an amazing performance area, It is terraced out to provide seating and faces the cafe. It's used a lot in the summer by independent performance companies with views to provide a ,ore accessible lower terrace for people with a mobility impairment.

The office space is available to rent and iis accessible from the ground floor via a lift which can hold two people and can be operated independently by a wheelchair user if required.

The accessible toilet has plenty of room to move around, has rails to help support transfer and a red cord alarm  which reaches the floor. In the ladies toilets there is a toilet with grab bars to help stand and ideal for those with a little reduced mobility.

There is also a Volunteer Hub which is accessible but our wheelchair user did need some assistance getting around the Orchard. The area is fairly level and it was wonderful to see the accessible raised bed that the volunteers have made. There are also benches here in the garden as well as the indoor spaces which are well-used. It’s a great space.

In the Community Cabin, the quiet nature of this space with it;s view of the natural pond and wildlife makes it a real haven for neurodivergent people who want a quiet space. It sounds beautiful.

There is a lot of outdoor space and places to visit at Newquay Ordchard which provide quiet, relaxing areas away from busy areas making this an ideal escape for some...

Our team love Newquay Orchard and we think you will too...