On that farm they had a nursery... children flock to Old MacDonald’s

A DAY care nursery based on a mixed farm in East Yorkshire is giving pre-school children a unique opportunity to help care for livestock and explore the countryside on a daily basis.

Old MacDonald’s is based at Manor House Farm in the village of Lund near Beverley. The 300-acre farm is owned and run by Peter Walker, together with his son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Liz. Peter’s family has farmed at Lund since he was a young boy.

In 1999, they took the decision to convert disused farm buildings into a home for Jonathan and Liz, and, at the same time, create an adjoining children’s day care nursery in an unusual example of diversification.

Liz, who oversees the running of the nursery and also works part-time as a secondary school teacher, explained: “Peter and Jonathan used to have pigs and a dairy herd, but, at that time, the former dairy and piggery were redundant. Our own children were young then and I was teaching full-time. I wanted to go part-time anyway, but I also found it a long way to take the children to nursery in the morning. Opening a nursery on the farm seemed like the logical thing to do.”

Since then, Liz has worked at the nursery for three days each week, although the family also employ a nursery manager.

Given the nursery’s location on a working farm and the family’s desire to give the children in their care as much opportunity as possible to spend time outside and interact with their menagerie of animals, they have had to overcome a fair amount of 
red tape.

The need to carry out risk assessments and obtain parental consent for every activity that they have planned has become second nature to Liz, who explained: “It can be a red tape nightmare and we do have to plan everything very carefully, but Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) now see the educational benefits of allowing children to spend time on the farm.”

This means that the children – who range in age from babies of just a few weeks old up to five years – are able to spend time with the farm’s Limousin beef herd, as well as the sheep and a variety of fancy breeds of chicken.

Liz said: “My husband, Jonathan, always had Belgian Blue cattle, but our son, Ross, who is 15, got into Limousins. He has been involved from an early age and, together with his Grandpa, he does all the research and decides on the breeding line. We’ve named our cattle the Rossellie herd after Ross and our daughter Ellie, who is 18.”

Recently, the children who attend Old MacDonald’s have had a hands-on role in caring for an orphaned calf named Isla.

Liz explained: “They’ve been feeding her twice a day; the children mix the milk and then go out and feed her with a bottle.

“They go out walking around the farm and across the fields. We’ve created a nature area and adventure playground in the trees behind the nursery for them. They also collect eggs from the chickens. We incubated chicks this year, which they were involved in, and we also keep a small number of sheep, mainly for the benefit of the children. We had lambs this year so the children were able to feed them.

“We also do gardening with them; they’ve been planting vegetables.” Liz added: “The children are outside every day. The weather has to be really bad for them not to be able to go out.”

Although many of the children who attend the nursery live in the village, it’s an unusual setting and the rare opportunity that it provides for them to enjoy the outdoors and spend time with farm animals means that it has also attracted youngsters from much further afield, including Hornsea and Malton.

Liz said: “We always hoped that having outdoor facilities would encourage people to travel here and I think parents do seek us out because of what we can offer their children. A lot of the children come from a rural background and their parents undoubtedly see the nursery’s location here on the farm as a plus. I can’t think there will be many other nurseries in this type of setting.”

The Walker family make sure that both the nursery and the farm play an active role within the life of the local community. Once a week, the children enjoy a visit to the nearby chapel for a coffee morning attended by older members of the community.

Liz said: “They head down there for a drink and a snack. They mix with older people from the village and play games with them. Risk assessment-wise it is a bit of a nightmare, but it’s nice for the children to be able to get outside and get involved in village life.”

On June 9, Manor House Farm and Old MacDonald’s will be open to the public as part of the annual Open Farm Sunday event. Last year Liz, Jonathan and Peter were totally overwhelmed by the number of visitors they received. Liz joked: “We got about 400; people were parking all over! We will be a bit better prepared this year now we know what to expect.”

Farm opens up for big day

The family have arranged demonstrations of traditional rural crafts such as sheep shearing, and they will also be running a one-off farm shop and café on the day. Liz continued: “We’ve got a friend with some heavy horses coming along; the local community get involved. The proceeds from the café and farm shop will be split between MacMillan Cancer Support and the fund to build a new Village Hall here in Lund.”

The Open Farm event will take place 1pm-3pm.