Sisters set to open nursery at the heart of their working farm

The new venture is the brainchild of sisters Tamara Hall and Camilla Parsonage, who run Molescroft Grange, a 600-hectare, arable farm on the outskirts of Beverley.

Farm manager Tamara is well-known for her innovative, community-focused and environmentally approach, which has resulted in Molescroft Grange winning a series of high profile regional and national awards.

Tamara herself was a highly commended finalist in The Yorkshire Post’s 2016 Farmer of the Year Award.

Over the years, the family has developed allotments and orchards for the community to use and regularly host open farm events for visiting school children and other groups. They have also implemented conservation projects to minimise the impact of the farm’s activities on wildlife, including the development of a community wood, the introduction of farming techniques aimed at working with nature to improve soil health such as direct drilling, and turning less productive areas of land over to wildlife management.

Now, the family is investing £750,000 in the creation of the purpose-built nursery, which is due to open in the summer.

Every room of the nursery will open up onto an outdoor play area and will give children access to the farm’s orchard. There are places for 60 children aged from three months to five years and with 12 families having signed up in the same week the plans were announced shows that there is a local demand for farm-based day care.

The focus will be very much on outdoor play and learning, an approach that reflects Tamara and Camilla’s own childhoods.

Camilla, who will oversee the running of the nursery, said: “As children, we were outdoors all the time, getting muddy, building dens, getting plenty of fresh air, playing with twigs and making perfume from rose petals. I think our generation had so much more freedom as there were not so many dangers. People can’t just put their children outside to play now, so we’re trying to create that feeling but in safe environment.

“It will be all about nature and child-led; we want to get the right balance between freedom and safety. It’s ideals for parents who want to provide that kind of childhood for their children. The children will be able to do things like view the cameras that we have in the owl box on the farm.”

Tamara’s one-year-old son, Ivo, was the first to enrol at the nursery and, although Camilla’s two sons are now aged 11 and 13, she admits it’s just the kind of place she would like to have sent them when they were younger.

She said: “The meals will be home cooked on site using locally sourced ingredients, including produce from the vegetable box scheme that we let a field out to and meat from our Pig Club. For our open farm events, we buy in rare breed piglets for visitors to see. We then fatten them up outdoors each year and sell their meat. It’s what we call ‘happy meat’ - it’s important to us knowing that it comes from outdoor reared pigs.

“The children will also be growing their own produce in raised beds, so they can pull a carrot and take it to the cook for their lunch.”

Tamara added: “Research suggests that children who spend their first five years on a farm are 50 per cent less likely to suffer from allergies in later life, so it’s about the health benefits as well as the emotional ones.”

The nursery’s design is partly inspired by Forest Schools, but it will offer both indoor and outdoor learning areas.

Camilla said: “This is the best of both worlds. The building has been designed to make the children feel like they’re outdoors even when they’re inside. We also have plans for an outdoor classroom in the orchard area in the future.”