IT?S BIRTHDAY time in Belstone this week as villagers celebrate two years of operation of the community café and post office in the village. A community effort saw the weekly café set up to support the part-time satellite post office, but the facility has turned out to be a huge success in its own right. Marion Walpole, who led the campaign to set up a facility, said the Thursday morning café in the village hall was somewhere people could meet, and enjoy coffee and cake. The café also offers the chance to pick up jars of home-made jam and pickle and locally produced cards and has raised more than £2,000, contributing substantially to the ongoing refurbishment of the village hall. Mrs Walpole said: ?We have our regulars who turn up week in, week out, regardless of the weather. I really didn?t expect it to be quite such a community thing as it has become. ?It might just be the future for the rural post office because it is getting harder and harder to find people to take them on.? Because the post office in Belstone is a satellite service run from Okehampton Post Office, the facility is able to offer a more extensive service than that offered previously by village sub-post offices. The idea was inspired by the success of the satellite post office which was set up in Exbourne Village Hall, when that facility was threatened with closure. Mrs Walpole thanked the loyal team of volunteers who drew up a rota to turn up at the hall to ?make cakes, make coffee and have a chat?. The post office is open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the cafe is open between 9.30am and 12.30pm on Thursdays.