Garden

“The outdoors offers young children essential experiences vital to their well-being, health and development in all ar

Please see our exciting garden plans!

Our newly renovated outdoor area provides a large, beautiful, stimulating space that has been carefully designed with the interests of every age group considered. It surrounds the whole of the substantial nursery site creating delightful aspects from each room and enabling all children to directly access the outdoor space from their main indoor space. Using a variety of textures and materials including bark surfacing, artificial grass and natural turf we have created a rich selection of spaces for use throughout the year. The youngest children (Blueberries and Strawberries) have their own play area directly accessed from their rooms and specifically designed to accommodate their needs. See the baby garden section below for more information. This includes a stunning covered sand play area which leads onto our natural grass area.

The sensory walk leads us around the garden towards the preschool area. Providing a calming space, rich in textures, colours and smells it will be a lovely way to transition between the areas.

The Preschool outdoor area contains our growing area, water and sand play, trike track and welcoming story corner, perfect for relaxing in the shade of the tree to share a story on a sunny day, or to build a den and shelter from the rain!. Supporting good physical development, and healthy life choices is vital for all the children. We encourage the m to take risks in their play, teaching them how to assess and make sensible choices for themselves. We encourage climbing activities by providing age appropriate climbing equipment. This helps develop balance and upper body strength. This is particularly important in supporting the fine motor skills that enable controlled handwriting later on.

Please click on the images below to see the garden plans while it is under construction.

Under 3’s Covered Sand Play

Sensory Walk

Story Corner

Full garden

The Baby Garden:

The Blueberries and Strawberries have their own garden space specifically designed for even the smallest children so that they can have plenty of fresh air and their own outdoor experience in safety, even when the more mobile children are out at play. The babies garden is partly sheltered meaning they can have outdoor access whatever the weather. The outdoor space is full of interesting challenges for the children and they are encouraged to be confident to access this area independently during periods of free flow play. One of our favourite features of the garden is the covered sand play area, specifically designed with this age group in mind it is easily accessed by even the youngest children and because it is enclosed and covered, can be used in all weathers. Of course the Blueberries are not restricted to this space and are encouraged to use the larger garden area whenever they would like, but here they have a space all to themselves.

The Growing Area

The growing area is fundamental to our ethos at the Mulberry bush. We believe passionately in providing children with delicious, nutritious food and also helping them to learn about where their food comes from. They will have the opportunity to grow their own crops of fruits and vegetables, to harvest them and then hand them over to our cook to supplement their meals. Our growing area will be a thriving plot that the children help to take care of. The children will help with all aspects for growing from planting seeds and transferring seedlings, assist in watering our plants everyday throughout the summer and then helping to harvest our crops as they ripen. The food that we grow will be taken to our nursery chef in the kitchen to be included in our meals whenever possible, or sometimes, in the case of strawberries and raspberries, simply eaten straight away! To see our healthy choices click here