New coffee, crystal and cake café opens in Peterborough - with menu on cards for dogs

Two Peterborough business owners have opened a new café in Oundle Road - surrounded by ‘healing’ crystals.

Vickie Cairns and Lauren Conaghan launched The Sanctuary Café as an extension to their already pre-existing three businesses on the site.

While in its infancy, the café has launched just serving milkshakes, cakes and Parisian hot chocolate for now - but the bosses have lots of other ideas up their sleeves.

After customer requests for savoury snacks, Vickie and Lauren are thinking about introducing homemade sausage rolls, sandwiches and paninis to the menu.

And, for furry four-legged friends, ‘puppucinos’ (whipped cream for dogs), ‘doghurt’ (dog yoghurts) and biscuits are on the cards.

Vickie told the Peterborough Telegraph: “We have come together to open a coffee shop on Oundle Road as there isn’t one here - but we also want to offer Peterborough a bit more of a tranquil and relaxing space amongst all the crystals.”

Vickie opened The Crystal Boutique 19 months ago after a battle with cervical cancer.

After re-evaluating her situation during lockdown and confronting her illness, she decided to leave her hairdressing career behind and focus on a lifelong dream instead.

“With the pandemic - and my cancer - I re-evaluated everything and opened up a crystal shop as I couldn’t hairdress any more with the treatment that I had.

“I am also a ‘Reiki Master’ [an energy healing therapist] and there was nowhere to buy crystals when I was poorly in Peterborough, physically.

“The support has been amazing in The Crystal Boutique - way more so than I could have ever imagined - and people now come from an hour away.

“The coffee shop works for them as well. It has become a bit of a destination.”

Thrilled at the cafe’s instant success, Vickie quipped: “We now have regular customers in 10 days.”

The family and dog friendly café - which has in and outdoor seating - opened on June 23.

It’s interlinked with The Crystal Boutique with salt lamps and amethysts on show.

“We have our major masterpieces of crystals in the coffee shop on a dresser so a lot of people get to admire them and experience the energy of the crystals,” Vickie added.

“Crystals bring us calm, clearing and good energy and I think that’s actually having an effect on people.”

When Vickie isn’t in her coffee shop she can also be found upstairs where she takes private appointments for treatments in her healing business called ‘Embrace & Connect’.

Co-owner, Lauren, also has a business upstairs, specialising in aesthetics.

She said: “People love being in the space, we knew that from having the shop. Customers would pull up a chair and have a chat with us and we’d make a coffee for them.

“We realised we had something good in terms of the energy here - it was a space that people wanted to be in and we wanted to foster that and give back to the community because there’s nothing here on Oundle Road.

“I think everything that we do here encompasses wellbeing: whether it’s feeling better about yourself, physically, mentally, spiritually and that comes full circle with the name The Sanctuary.”