WOODSTOCK — A pair of new cafes are opening in Woodstock’s busy downtown, and a new fine dining option is bringing a familiar face back to the area.

One of the new establishments, Dreamscape Coffee, has already opened its doors at 67 Central St., in the storefront formerly occupied by Soulfully Good Cafe, which closed late last year.

The cafe represents the culmination of a couple of dreams for husband-and-wife owners James and Rachel Williams, who run Dreamscape with Rachel’s twin sister, Brieanna, and her husband, Austin Perez.

“Really it was about opening our own business and being able to work for ourselves, but also about moving to the area,” James, 29, said.

Though they hail from Arizona, the couple was familiar with Woodstock from years of visiting Rachel’s family, who previously lived in Rutland. “Eventually, I was like, ‘Let’s get back there,’ ” James said.

When the Central Street location went up for sale, the couple decided to go for it. By January, they’d moved into the apartment above the cafe and started work on renovations. The shop opened in early March.

Before launching Dreamscape, Rachel, 26, was self-employed in various fields including finance and real estate while James worked as a barista and shop manager in Sedona, Ariz. “I had a bunch of time to (consider) if I had a coffee shop, what would I want?” he said.

With black walls, decorative sconces and shelves lined with secondhand books, Dreamscape takes inspiration from the cozy atmosphere of British pubs and the “dark academia aesthetic” popularized on Tumblr and Pinterest.

“If you were working on writing a book, you could feel right at home in this kind of study, or if you were reading a book, you’d be just fine, too,” James said.

Beth Finlayson, executive director of Woodstock’s Chamber of Commerce, views Dreamscape as a welcome addition to the village.

“They did just a fabulous job with it,” she said. “It’s great to have a younger vibe in town and not be old and stodgy.”

While Dreamscape’s interior might be highly decorative, its menu is comparatively simple. The coffee shop offers espresso drinks and teas alongside a small selection of pastries. Specialty drinks bear mystical names such as “Epiphany,” a latte that incorporates honey, caramel and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Pastries are sourced from a handful of vendors, including a bagel company in New York, while coffee beans come from a roastery in Sedona.

“It’s not just a little memento of where we came from, we also think that it’s some of the smoothest coffee that we’ve ever had,” James said.

Later this year, in late fall, another husband-and-wife duo will open a cafe down the street from Dreamscape at 67 Pleasant St., at the east end of the village. This one specializes in housemade doughnuts and fresh focaccia.

April and Ben Pauly made their first go of Farmer and the Bell in 2022, when they operated out of the Parker House in Quechee. But a complicated pregnancy caused them to take a hiatus 10 months in.

Now the parents of a toddler, they’re in the process of building a brick and mortar location in their hometown of Woodstock.

“We love Woodstock and selfishly, we started Farmer and the Bell because we wanted something that we couldn’t get anywhere else in close proximity,” April said.

In the early days, the shop’s main offerings were doughnuts, cold brew and lemonade, but this time around, the menu will also include breakfast and lunch sandwiches made on focaccia, as well as assorted pastries and creemees.

The space, which seats 98 people, with tables both indoors and out, is leased from Eva Douzinas, who was working with White River Junction company Geobarns to build an eco-friendly storefront on the property when she reached out to the couple.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we’d be able to call such a beautiful space home,” April said.

Even though Farmer and the Bell isn’t far from Dreamscape and longstanding breakfast and lunch spot Mon Vert Cafe, April isn’t worried about the competition.

“The more we can uplift each other and celebrate what each other is doing, nothing but goodness is going to come out of it,” she said.

In June, a very different kind of establishment, fine dining restaurant Oakes and Evelyn, will open a second location in The Jackson, an inn on the western edge of town.

The opening marks a return to the Upper Valley for chef and restaurateur Justin Dain, who worked as the executive chef at the Hanover Inn and then Pine until launching Oakes and Evelyn in Montpelier in 2021.

“The Jackson kind of spoke to me, and it just felt meant to be,” said Dain in a phone interview.

It’s also a milestone for the inn, which hasn’t had its own restaurant since well before the pandemic. For now, the plan is to serve breakfast every day, while dinner service will run five days a week.

“The O&E menu is very different from what is offered in our area. The focus on the raw bar and crudo, and homemade pasta and shareable plates is something I think will really resonate with both locals and visitors to Woodstock,” said David MacKay, one of the owners of The Jackson.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.