Inn Farm Private Day Nursery

Guinea pigs, growing plots and paddocks give Inn Farm Private Day Nursery a countryside identity that carries through into children's learning. This Melchbourne setting uses its former working farm for much more than outdoor exercise: children tend plants, observe animals and experiment with water, soil and building materials. There is room for quieter discoveries too.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Inn Farm Outstanding and found that its curriculum developed children's language through thoughtful adult interaction and practical experiences. That judgement belongs to that visit; the current daily offer includes outdoor play, child-led exploration and activities planned around children's interests.

Inn Farm accepts children aged 3 to 60 months. Flexible sessions sit alongside a daily routine that accommodates different starting times and individual rest needs. Its strongest appeal is the connection between care, play and the natural world, rather than a collection of separate lessons.

Rooms and Ages

Ladybirds combines sensory exploration and early movement with low mirrors, accessible resources and its own covered outdoor space, giving babies opportunities to investigate at floor level and move between environments when staffing, weather and their individual care needs allow. Caterpillars builds on children's growing mobility through block building, painting and tactile play, with a boat in the sandpit adding a concrete setting for imaginative exploration.

Butterflies brings together storytelling, counting and creative materials, including slime and dough, while daily garden exploration extends children's investigations outside. Grasshoppers connects practical independence with early literacy and mathematics, with a book corner children can use themselves and direct access to a garden for growing and digging. Dragonflies emphasises communication and social development through stories, listening activities and regular yoga and mindfulness, alongside construction using pipes, ramps and guttering.

The differences between rooms concern children's developing interests as well as their care routines. A baby reaching for a book, a confident walker exploring textures and an older child planning a construction project have different starting points. These room arrangements give families useful examples of how activities change as children develop.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the statutory foundation: children develop communication, movement, relationships and early knowledge through play and everyday experiences. At Inn Farm, adults combine activities they organise with play children initiate, using observations to decide what to introduce next. A countryside walk can become a conversation about plants, an opportunity to count or a chance to practise moving confidently.

Dragonflies uses Letters and Sounds phase one to introduce simple sounds, alongside stories, rhythm and listening games. This is preparation through noticing and listening, with opportunities to make marks indoors and outside. Children also contribute ideas for topics, so their questions help shape what happens next.

In June 2023, children investigated flowers with adults, discussed differences between plants and worked together with a parachute. Preschool children explained freezing while making an ice lolly. In June 2023, these activities linked discussion and teamwork with hands-on exploration of scientific ideas.

The curriculum page explains how observations inform subsequent activities. The useful distinction for parents is between simply offering resources and using children's responses to plan the next experience. Inn Farm's approach makes that connection explicit.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor learning has several settings. The Courtyard includes a bicycle track, a mud café and construction materials such as bricks and guttering. Children can mix imaginary recipes, work out how to build something or practise steering. Chalkboards and painting panels bring early mark-making into larger movements, rather than confining it to a table.

The Undercover Garden adds shelter for outdoor activity in changeable weather. Its climbing equipment, reading corner and music wall provide different kinds of play within that space. Butterflies, Grasshoppers and Dragonflies have direct access to the Pre-School garden, where a water wall supports experiments with movement and flow and a bug and insect hotel gives children something living to observe.

Dinosaur Land and Fairy World turn the Nursery Garden into a setting for invented stories. Elsewhere, children can look for insects with magnifying lenses, watch birds attracted by feeders and investigate signs of wildlife around the hedgehog house. These are useful resources for children who enjoy examining small details as much as those who want energetic play.

Bubble and Squeak, the guinea pigs, spend time in different rooms. Hens live in a walk-in coop, and children regularly visit the paddocks to see the ponies; Highland cows stay during summer. Animal encounters are supervised, with gentle handling and handwashing included in the routine. Caring for living things therefore brings practical responsibilities alongside excitement.

Growing is equally hands-on. Preschool children prepare soil, plant, water and harvest, while younger children explore herbs around the mud café. Produce can be used in supervised cooking. Recycling bins in each room and collected rainwater for the gardens give children further everyday examples of looking after resources.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person who learns their routines, preferences and interests, helps them settle and serves as the family's main contact. That person also observes development and plans subsequent learning. For parents, this connects the emotional work of becoming comfortable at nursery with the practical work of understanding how their child is progressing.

Famly carries updates about activities, food and care routines, along with learning observations and photographs where parents have given permission. Conversations with practitioners complement progress reports and parent meetings. Families can contribute interests and achievements from home, giving staff something specific to respond to rather than relying solely on what happens during nursery hours.

Simple activities sent home extend this exchange: sharing stories, noticing numbers and exploring nature can connect with children's nursery interests. The annual Dragonflies Sports Day brings families into an active celebration, while preschool children participate in a Nativity Play. These events provide opportunities to share children's experiences beyond app updates.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Ladybirds separates sleep from active play within the room, using a temperature-monitored area and an individual cot or coracle suited to each baby. Staff follow babies' sleep routines and use white noise to reduce disturbance. The arrangement matters because rest remains part of the room's care, with practitioners able to supervise while other children play.

The wider daily routine also allows younger children to sleep according to their needs and older children to rest or choose quieter activities. This is a useful counterbalance to the physical activity outdoors. Children do not all need the same pace throughout the day.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised the emotional support delivered through the key-person system. Current staff arrangements include a safeguarding lead, a SENDCo role and paediatric first-aid training across the team. Those are identifiable responsibilities and arrangements; individual support remains a matter for discussion around a child's needs.

A dedicated chef prepares meals and snacks, with rotating menus and a separate weaning menu for babies. The nursery's allergy procedures include recording dietary requirements, sharing them with nursery and kitchen staff and providing suitable alternatives, linking information from families to food preparation.

Sessions and Attendance

Inn Farm is at Inn Farm, Knotting Road, Melchbourne, Bedford, MK44 1BE. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year, with bank-holiday closures. This gives families an opening window within which the flexible session arrangements operate.

The daily routine includes an early start at 7.30am, a morning start at 8am and a shorter-session start at 9am. These starting points should be distinguished from a complete booked session: the routine also accommodates different sleep needs and activities between rooms. Telephone enquiries can be made on 07961 291058, and there is a Book a Visit route.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible two-, three- and four-year-olds. The entitlements comprise 15 hours for two-year-olds, 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds, and 30 hours for qualifying three- and four-year-olds, during term time. Eligibility conditions apply; the nursery's funding information sets out these categories.

Childcare vouchers are also accepted. Current prices belong in the nursery's written quotation, which gives families a basis for considering their chosen attendance pattern alongside funded hours.

• Baby-room routines. Ladybirds has an in-room sleep area and direct outdoor access. At a visit, discuss how your baby's feeding and sleeping pattern would work alongside movement between these spaces.
• Different starting points. The routine accommodates early, morning and shorter-session starts. Ask how the booked finish time and attendance pattern would fit your family's working day.
• Food, consumables and funding. Funded entitlement is term-time, while the nursery opens across the year. Request a written breakdown covering meals, non-food consumables and any privately paid hours for your chosen pattern, and confirm current allergy practice if relevant.

Inn Farm suits families who want countryside experiences woven into ordinary nursery life, whether they need an early start or a shorter session. The animal care, growing areas and varied outdoor spaces give that choice substance. Babies also have dedicated arrangements for rest and exploration, rather than simply a smaller version of the older children's day.

The Outstanding judgement from June 2023 adds weight to the account of learning and relationships at that time. For a current decision, the strongest practical combination is the room-by-room progression, named key-person responsibility and outdoor experiences children can revisit as they grow. The attendance agreement and written charge breakdown complete the picture for an individual family.