New owners of a café close to a beauty spot by the beach are ‘excited’ for the new holiday season following extensive renovations to their site.

The Eastlake family have taken over the management of the Reef Café near Ringstead Beach. The café is at the end of the private road down to the World Heritage National Landscape beach in the car park. 

The family of four, consisting of Michelle, Roger, Rory and Oz started renovation work on the structure of the café back in November, with the project set to be completed for the start of the holiday season.

Dorset Echo: Two new indoor seating areas have been made from recycled materials such as pallets, as well as an outdoor seating area featuring a new woodfire oven outdoor kitchen with work on that set to be completed by the summer.

Dorset Echo: Michelle has been a local of the area for many years and said she knows the clientele well, farming the next field over from the site since she was 17.

“It’s such a beautiful location and beach- everyone loves it and there are fossils everywhere," she said. 

Dorset Echo: “We’re just so excited and pleased for the opportunity.

"The new areas give off such a warm vibe and will be perfect for cold swimmers to stop-by and get a chocolate.

"We're dog friendly all year round and we love catering for walkers and the surfing community too."

Michelle added that the food is locally sourced with beef, milk and among other items the family is proud of sourcing, whilst there is an abundance of homemade cakes and sweet treats.

The family-run business has put a large emphasis on being environmentally friendly, and are encouraging customers to bring their own mugs and cups to lessen the impact of disposable waste.

Dorset Echo: On top of that, there are plans in motion for a wormery and herb garden to be installed next to the site. A wormery is a purpose-built container that houses a colony of brandling worms, which consume fruit and vegetable waste, producing a nutritious worm compost.

Toilets on the site of the café are also going through the process of renovating from money collected from the private toll road down to the beach.

The landowner of the site said that the renovations were being carried out 'to provide a better quality offering of services for holidaymakers.'