Craftea is the brainchild of 2 friends, Laura and Ashleigh (that’s us! But we will talk about ourselves in the third person for ease of writing ❣️) who have been friends for over 15 years.

Laura has experience working in the substance misuse and criminal justice fields and qualified as a mental health nurse in 2018. Ashleigh has a colourful background of croupier, administrator, recruiter for film and TV extras -and qualified as a general nurse in 2016. She is currently an Oncology Research Sister.

We have seen each other through 3 degrees, 3 children, 2 marriages, 1 divorce and 1 pandemic. Laura has 2 children, Ashleigh has 1. Ashleigh loves baking and Laura loves crafting.

Last year we decided to embark on a side hustle of mobile children’s events. We realised there was quite a need for imaginative play- and we didn’t want to cart a building’s worth of toys around…so we started looking for potential venues for a permanent base. As soon as we viewed The Old Chapel, we fell in love and there has been no looking back. We then scoured the internet for second hand and vintage furniture. All our tables are named after the lovely people who donated them. We continue to work full time as nurses while establishing and working in Craftea.

We are both passionate about community causes including mental health, combating social isolation in the elderly, LGBTQ rights, ASD, maternal perinatal care and aftercare. We have lots of ideas of groups and support networks in the future.

Something that is very close to our hearts is the ethos to do as little harm as possible and therefore we do not serve or stock Nestle or Coca-Cola products – we are more than happy to have a discussion with anyone over a nice cup of tea, served in vintage china, and to put the world to rights. L&A x