Whatever the weather we are able to go out and play in our ‘All Weather Garden’, as it is covered and laid with Astro turf. The younger children benefit from using this space daily, because it is smaller than our main garden, but equally well resourced.

There are lots of stimulating activities on offer including an investigation board to explore, a water wall with funnels and guttering, a music area to make different sounds and sing along to, a sand pit to investigate, a cosy book area where caring, enthusiastic staff can make every book come alive!, a heuristic area to engage developing minds and a home corner for role play where cups of tea are a speciality! 

The children over two can explore the main garden, which has a safety surface, where the children are able to build their confidence on the outdoor climbing equipment. They enjoy the separate areas that are on offer in the main garden. There is a large sandy beach area, with a life size rowing boat for role play and endless opportunities to build sandcastles and explore the sand. The music area gives opportunities to create different sounds. Mark-making opportunities are situated around the garden, with Perspex to paint on and chalk boards to chalk on. The mud kitchen inspires imagination for new recipes, where the children can pick the herbs to use in their creations! Our construction area allows our budding ‘Bob the Builders’ to build using real bricks and guttering. The maths area provides opportunities to count, categorise and measure.  Physical activities are on offer, such as football, bats and balls and games with hoops. Our cosy wooden house has cushions and fairy lights, ready for stories to be read by enthusiastic staff.  Nature comes to life in our tractor tyres, where the trees that we planted change and bear fruit, allowing the children the chance to develop their observational skills and teach them about the world around us.

Our pre-school rooms, Butterflies, Grasshoppers and Dragonflies, have direct access to their very own pre-school garden, where, alongside active role play and construction play, they enjoy a ‘bug hotel’, a digging area and an ever-changing allotment. The children enjoy growing a variety of fruit and vegetables, with which they try new flavours and enjoy new recipes. We have found that the children are more willing to try new foods if they have grown and looked after them themselves. They also enjoy learning about healthy eating and where food comes from.

The children have daily opportunities to visit and explore the paddock, which houses our chickens and rabbits and provides a variety of stimulating learning experiences; the children collect the eggs daily, which they get very excited about! They are able to develop their physical skills whilst climbing on the logs! We provide the children with magnifying lenses to explore mini-beasts while on bug hunts. The older children then use non-fiction books to find out more about them. We have nesting boxes and bird feeders, so we can find out more about birds. We are also waiting to see if any hedgehogs hibernate in our hedgehog house! The mud kitchen provides opportunities to rustle up some delicious creations! Dinosaur Land and Fairy World help to develop their imaginations through small world play, while developing personal and social skills. Our music area is filled with natural percussion instruments which promote a skill in making different sounds and developing rhythm.

The opportunities for investigation and exploration are endless and are all provided within a safe and secure environment.

We have a number of animals at Inn Farm, which the children love. We have two rabbits called Nugget and Lola, and two hens, who have been hand reared by our children. There are also highland cow calves, Poppy and Bramble, Shetland ponies Darcey, Dizzy and Dinky in our paddocks that we visit regularly to feed with apples and carrots.

The children are encouraged to look after the animals, by helping to feed them, giving them water and helping to keep them clean. We believe that this experience helps the children to learn about loving and caring for living things, fostering a sense of responsibility and nurturing a passion for the natural world.

The children are taught how to interact gently with our nursery animals and we ensure the children always wash their hands after handling the animals.

A growing area enabling the children to grow their own vegetables and flowers that will be used within the nursery. Here children will gain knowledge and experience of how things grow and develop an understanding of how to look after plants and flowers.