The Udder Pre-School Day Nursery

A woodland clearing, daily egg collecting and rooms called the Manger, Dairy and Milking Parlour give The Udder Pre-School Day Nursery a recognisable farm character. Countryside is part of the children's learning here, with growing, baking and exploring woven into the offer. This is a nursery where outdoor clothing earns its keep.

The nursery has capacity for 80 children aged 1 to 5 at Cobleys Lodge, Stamford Road, Corby, NN18 8HE. Ofsted rated it Outstanding at its June 2021 inspection. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of today's individual staff or children's experiences.

Care is organised through age-related rooms, with a separate sleep area for the youngest children and more specialised play spaces for older children. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, with the nursery operating for 51 weeks each year.

Rooms and Ages

The Manger Room, for ages 1 to 2, combines messy and floor play with a separate sleep area, giving younger children space to experiment and somewhere distinct to rest. Familiar materials sit alongside new ones to explore. Individual feeding, sleeping and play routines are followed while children settle, with changes introduced once they feel familiar with their surroundings.

For children aged 2 to 3, the Dairy Room brings together climbing, role play and mark making, alongside a quieter space and access to the hall for baking. That combination gives energetic toddlers different ways to use the room, including somewhere to pause. Baking also connects their play with something they can eat for an afternoon snack.

The Milking Parlour, for ages 3 to 4, uses four rooms for creative activity, pretend play, construction and shared games, with the hall accommodating baking, dance and ICT. A quiet reading area and interactive whiteboard add further choices. The emphasis shifts towards building existing skills for the move into full-time school.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning through play across the areas of learning and development. Children sometimes choose their activity and sometimes join an adult-led experience, so the day combines personal exploration with staff introducing ideas and encouraging participation.

The nursery's blue sky experiential learning means practical learning in its countryside surroundings. Farm walks, gathering eggs and daily baking give that approach substance: children encounter food and the natural world through things they do, rather than through descriptions alone. Indoor activities also include construction, dance, creative work and role play, with play areas changed to suit the topics being explored.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School provides an outdoor learning area where children learn woodland rules and explore the environment through direct experience. Its clearing includes a drama performance area, used for regular Get Togethers at which children sing and perform plays for parents. The outdoor setting therefore supports shared occasions as well as individual exploration.

The nursery aims to walk daily, with possible encounters with lambs or calves and opportunities to explore fields, hedgerows and woods. Its garden gives children opportunities to grow flowers, vegetables and fruit, connecting planting with the origins and taste of food. Bikes, trikes and climbing frames offer more active play; quieter outdoor spaces provide another choice.

A child's key worker is the family's everyday contact and takes primary responsibility for recording development. The Buddy System provides an allocated substitute when that key worker is absent. For parents, this gives a clear contact arrangement rather than leaving communication dependent on one person's presence.

Parent Zone sends families observations about their child, alongside the nursery's progress reports. Parents also contribute to the child's record of achievement with the key person. These are concrete ways to follow learning between conversations, including experiences a young child may struggle to explain at home.

Settling in the Manger Room starts with the child's existing routines. Feeding, rest and play are accommodated individually before new routines are introduced. The separate sleep area matters here: rest has its own space within the youngest children's provision.

Staff receive child-protection training, and the key worker works with families on safeguarding matters. These are arrangements for communication and staff preparation, rather than a current inspection judgement about their effectiveness. Preparation for school is also built into the Milking Parlour's emphasis on developing skills children have already acquired.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens from 8am to 6pm and operates for 51 weeks each year. Bank holidays and one week at Christmas are closure periods. Families using care across the year need to account for those breaks in their plans.

A separate holiday play scheme serves children aged 1 to 13 during school holidays, except for one Christmas week. Its activities include country walks, baking and tractor-and-trailer rides. This extends the setting's farm-based provision beyond the nursery age range, while remaining a separate service.

Getting There

The address is Cobleys Lodge, Stamford Road, Corby, NN18 8HE, with the nursery also identified locally as being in Little Oakley. Families can contact the nursery on 01536 742293 or use its contact form; registration forms are requested by email.

• Outdoor clothing is everyday kit. Wellington boots and outdoor clothes are essential here. On a visit, discuss how the outdoor routine works for your child's age and preferences.
• Match the room to the child. The Manger Room follows individual routines, while the Milking Parlour develops skills for school. Ask how moves between rooms take account of age and ability.
• Plan the booking and costs together. With a 51-week operating year and Christmas and bank-holiday closures, request a written quotation covering your intended attendance, funded hours, meals and consumables.

The Udder suits families who want countryside experiences to shape their child's nursery day: gardening, egg collecting, baking and woodland play all have practical substance here. It also offers parents clear communication mechanisms through key workers, the Buddy System and Parent Zone.

The June 2021 Outstanding judgement supplies a dated quality reference. The stronger day-to-day reason to consider this nursery is its combination of farm surroundings, age-related spaces and room for both active exploration and quieter play.