A couple who have bought a long-established confectionery shop in Keswick town centre are moving to North Cumbria from the United States.
Sebastian Polhill has already arrived in the UK and is running Sweet Temptations in Main Street.
He will be joined by his wife, Lynn, later this month after her delayed visa application is processed.
She is currently still living in the couple’s former home at Rock Island in Illinois, three hours east of Chicago, and is expected to arrive on July 24.
In the meantime Sebastian, a UK national, is settling into their new home at Skinburness, near Silloth, from where he drives daily to run their new venture at what he calls the pinkest shop in the Market Square.
The couple, who met while playing a war game online, have big plans for the shop but will also continue offering the sweets and treats customers have come to expect such as fudge, chocolate, ice-cream, candy floss, milkshakes and pick and mix.
“And if someone is desperate for one then I will make them a coffee,” said Sebastian, 55, a former supply teacher specialising in maths and education officer in the British Army for 12 years.
Lynn is looking into making American-style fudge which is always flavoured with ingredients such as chocolate and coconut and it will be sold alongside the English variety.
“We already have it in the shop but something made on-site will be much more appealing,” said Sebastian.
He is also looking to buy equipment that will enable him to sell freeze dried sweets such as Skittles and Starburst and plans to experiment with mints and jellied
sweets.
“We were both looking at getting a business together but it was not necessarily a sweet shop,” said Sebastian.
“We were looking at supermarkets, grocery stores, hotels, vegetable shops and we looked at a baby supplies store in Scarborough.
“We had been looking at a sweet shop in Kirkby Lonsdale but that proved to be a little bit more expensive and while we were doing due diligence on that shop Sweet Temptations showed up and we thought it would be a better bet and in a better location.
“It’s in a beautiful part of the country and I really enjoy my drive into work.”
