BedsLife Meets… Rasa Varanauskaite from The Friendly Nettle Café, Shortstown
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Where did you grow up? I grew up in Kaunas, the second biggest city in Lithuania.
What was your favourite lesson in school? At school I mostly loved arts, biology and home economics.
What did you want to be when you grew up? When I was young, I found it difficult to decide what I would like to be when I grow up. I liked so many things! I wanted to be a gardener because I like plants; I dreamed to be a fashion designer because I liked sewing and other fabric crafts such as knitting and crochet (I have a degree in fashion now).
What was your first job? My first job was serving breakfast in a hotel in central London. Funnily, the first days of my café opening reminded me of working at that hotel. Shortstown people love their cooked breakfast!
How did the Friendly Nettle Café come about? I always loved hanging out at cafés and wished they were a little like pubs. A place where local people meet. I thought I will open café one day when I have enough money, but later in life I had a thought, why wait? So, 10 years ago, I started my journey on making this dream come true. Initially I launched a blog called Friendly Nettle where I blogged about everything I loved: crafts, baking, gardening, travel, and what inspires me. When I moved to Shortstown in 2015 I was ready, and the right space opened up. Although the café is now open, it still has a long way to go to really become what I originally imagined.
