Nursery World - Unusual sites for rural care

Day nurseries have been set up in such unlikely spots as a converted milking parlour and an outside toilet block in order to meet the childcare needs of rural communities. A series of briefing papers published by the Kids' Clubs Network and the Countryside Agency last week revealed that childcare providers in the English countryside have come up with some highly innovative solutions to the lack of suitable accommodation. In Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria, a village shop unused for almost 25 years was converted into a nursery, providing the only service of its kind within a 20-mile radius.

A series of briefing papers published by the Kids' Clubs Network and the Countryside Agency last week revealed that childcare providers in the English countryside have come up with some highly innovative solutions to the lack of suitable accommodation. In Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria, a village shop unused for almost 25 years was converted into a nursery, providing the only service of its kind within a 20-mile radius.

In Devon, the St Christopher Nursery in Staverton operates from a converted milking parlour and storage unit, while a school in West Down near Exmoor converted an outside toilet block into a specialist pre-school facility complete with its own mini-kitchen. Other unusual buildings adapted to provide childcare include a windmill, a lighthouse and a cricket pavilion.

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