General News
19 January, 2026
Country Lane Delights turns one
Country Lane Delights, a family-owned cafe in Hopetoun, has celebrated its first anniversary, marking one year since owners Damian and Bianca Sugden reopened the doors on January 7.
Bianca said the milestone brought a mix of pride and excitement.
“I’m very excited,” she said.
“It’s gone past very quickly, but it showed a lot of potential this year, so we’re looking forward to what the future’s going to bring.”
The couple reopened the cafe after it had been shut for several months, and Bianca said they felt the town needed it back.
“The cafe was here, so it was just being shut, so we just believed that it needed to be reopened.”
Before starting their own business, the pair built experience working at Hayden’s Cafe in Rainbow.
“We were working at Hayden’s Cafe,” she said.
“I was there for two years, and Damo was there for about 15 months, helping them up there.
“Then we just wanted to tackle our own, and here we are a year later.”
Bianca said the cafe’s support base grew quickly and stayed strong throughout the year.
“From the moment we opened, it was go, go, go,” she said.
“The community’s support has been amazing, you couldn’t ask for much more really.”
She said improvements to the space and menu helped the cafe settle into its new chapter.
“I think the menu was extended, and we gave it a facelift, which I think has definitely helped brighten the place up a bit, plants, a bit of greenery,” she said.
The owners believed that chips, souvlaki, and the schnitzel burger were the most selling items of the year, with coffee being everyone's favourite.
Looking back, Bianca said the highlight of the year came from community celebrations, especially birthdays.
“The ups, I think, are that we’ve had many birthdays in here,” she said.
“That’s been great, being able to celebrate some of the birthdays, meet a lot of the community that we didn’t know.
“We’ve had people from Rainbow and Kaniva come down for their birthday, we sing Happy Birthday, we bring them a slice out, we light a candle.”
Bianca said the most significant downside was the hours away from their children, which led them to close earlier one day a week.
“Look, I think the only downside would be time away from the kids, hence the reason why we’re going to be closing early on Tuesdays, so we’re going to get more time,” she said.
As the business grows, she said location and visibility remain the main challenges, with limited options for roadside promotion.
“The only problem we seem to have here is people don’t know that we are here, and unfortunately, our location doesn’t work the best for us.”
She thanked locals for backing the cafe through its first year and said the couple plans to keep building on what’s working.
“Thank you for your support, and please continue supporting us,” she said.
“We’ve loved the first year, and we’re here for many more.
“We’re not running away in a hurry.”
Bianca said that they are adjusting trading hours to better balance business and family life.