PICTURES: See inside new community café coming to rural Laois village

Excitement is growing in the rural Laois village of Camross for a new community café that will offer long opening hours, and sell basic groceries too.

Camross at the foothills of the Slieve Bloom Mountains got a huge grant of of over €250,000 from the EU Just Transition Fund to turn the Poet's Corner replica Irish stone cottage, into a village café.

It is transformational for the village which has many community facilities and a pub, but no shops. 

In March Laois County Council approved  the plans, and the committee has lost no time getting work underway.

The Leinster Express / Laois Live visited the famous cottage to meet its new manager Eilish Fox.

Photos: Leinster Express

Eilish who lives locally in Killanure, revealed their plans.

"We will start by opening seven days a week, from 8.30am to 3.30pm. In the evening we will have a hatch to serve takeaway food, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

"We will serve food like toasted sandwiches, scones, sweet treats and tray bakes, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Maybe later we will consider things like acai bowls.

"There's great excitement about it. We launched our social media pages this week and we already have over 100 followers on Instagram," she said.

New outdoor seating area.

The nearest towns to Camross are Mountrath and Roscrea, so they will stock basics like milk and bread, saving residents a drive in their cars.

"I'm a mum myself at the school, so I know how handy it will be. We will trial it anyway, there's no point bringing in stock if it doesn't sell," she said.

The venture has given Eilish a full time job, moving from her previous CE Scheme role caring for the elderly.

"We will also have part-time staff as well as volunteers. We hope it will become a meeting place for the community. We hope to open by the end of June, early July," Eilish said.

Fireplace and flagstoned floor in the former kitchen of Poet's Cottage under reconstruction as a café. 

She said it will bring about "a big change to Camross".

"There were two shops here once, we even had a Post Office. The school has over 20 enrolments every year so there is a great demand," she said.

Inside the cottage, work is underway with new tiles on the room to the left to serve as the main seating area. On the right, traditional features are preserved with large flagstones and an open stone hearth. That room will house the kitchen, new toilets, serving counter and more seating.

The dresser from the Poet's Cottage that will be reinstalled.

The side of the cottage is getting a smart new paved area for an awning and summer outdoor seating.

"Once the work is finished they will bring back in the country kitchen furniture, the dresser and the bedpress," the manager explained.

New tiled floor in the main dining area.

The project is the brainchild of the Camross Community and Parish. The Poet's Cottage is a replica Irish cottage built by a local FÁS scheme in the 1990s, to honour a historical local poet Patrick Ryan.

Read also: WATCH: Camross schoolkids raise 9th Green Flag

Camross has already benefited from their volunteer work. Next door the Camross Community Complex has a new multipurpose sports pitch, community garden, a riverside outdoor classroom, floodlit walkway, seating area, multipurpose working hub and gym.

The pretty village also has a pub, church, primary school and playschool.