The smallest, the most hands
Nine children and three practitioners. They are still learning to say they need a wee — and that is fine.
- three children to one adult
- nappies and potty at the child’s own pace
- a sleep after lunch for whoever needs one
Registration for September 2026 is open · six places left
A small nursery where nobody gets lost in the crowd
A day nursery and pre-school in Ely for children from nine months to school age. Three small rooms, everything cooked in our own kitchen, 1,400 m² of garden — about a third of an acre — and a key person who tells you how the day really went.
2016we opened in
3 : 1children to one adult in the baby room
7.30am–6pmevery weekday
-
Small rooms
Three children to one adult in the baby room, eight in pre-school. Nobody gets lost in the crowd.
-
We cook it ourselves
Our own kitchen in the building, meat from the butcher on Fore Hill, bread from the bakery round the corner.
-
Out in all weathers
Into the garden or the woods twice a day. Waterproofs, wellies and spare socks all live here.
-
Settling in at their own pace
You can stay in the room with your child for the first week. No “just leave them and go”.
10 yearslooking after children in Ely
About us
It started because we could not get places for our own children
In 2015 not one of the three of us got a nursery place in Ely. Rather than argue with the waiting lists we took the upper floor of the old dairy on Barton Road, painted it, and in September 2016 welcomed the first twelve children.
Today there are three rooms, eight practitioners, a cook in our own kitchen and the same rule as ever: the child does not have to get used to us, we fit around the child. We are not trying to turn a nursery into a school. We are trying to make it somewhere children want to come and parents know what happened all day.
40children across three rooms
9practitioners and an apprentice
1,400 m²of garden behind us
“I never wanted a big nursery. I wanted one where I know the name of every grandad who comes to collect.” Our founder and nursery manager
Three rooms
Every age needs something different
We do not put children wherever there happens to be a space. The number of children, the shape of the day and what we ask of them all change with age.
The age of questions and friends
Fifteen children and three practitioners. This is where most of the arguments about whose spade it is happen.
- weekly themes, water, sand and paint
- learning to sort arguments out with words
- a speech and language drop-in twice a year
Pre-school
Sixteen children and two practitioners. We get them ready for school without workbooks or homework.
- fifteen minutes of mark making a day
- visits to Reception at the school nearby
- we will say honestly if we think they are not ready
A day here
From half past seven in the morning to six at night, hour by hour
Click a time and see what is going on here just then. It is the real routine, not a sample timetable out of a folder.
7.30–8.30am
Arriving
Come when you need to — some at half seven, some at nine. At the door your child’s key person takes a minute with you: how they slept, whether anything is going on at home, what to watch for. The children pick their own corner meanwhile: blocks, books, the play kitchen, the workbench.
After nine the room settles into the morning, so please come before that if you can. If you are running late, ring and we will hold breakfast.
8.30–9.00am
Breakfast and morning snack
We eat together at two long tables. The children pour their own water, butter their own toast and carry the plates back to the hatch afterwards. Nobody is made to finish — but we do ask everyone to try.
Allergies and diets are worked out one at a time with our cook — gluten free and dairy free are no trouble.
9.00–9.30am
Circle time
We sit on the carpet, sing hello and count who is missing. Every child may say one thing — and may say nothing. Then we go through what the day holds, and the children have a say in it: down to the river or into the woods.
9.30–10.00am
Adult-led activity
A short block on the week’s theme — something with water, painting, music, mark making with the pre-schoolers. It lasts as long as it holds them. If it does not, we stop after ten minutes and go outside.
10.00–11.45am
Outside — garden, woods, town
The longest part of the day and the most important. The garden behind the building, the woods by the river, now and then the market square or the library. We go out in all weathers apart from thunder, high wind and a Met Office amber warning.
Waterproofs, wellies and spare clothes live here. Expect your child to come home muddy — that is the good news.
11.45am–12.30pm
Lunch
Cooked here from fresh, nothing delivered in trays. Everyone gets soup, the children serve their own potatoes and decide how much they eat. Anyone who wants more has more.
12.30–2.15pm
Quiet time
Teeth, then a story. The little ones fall asleep; after half an hour of quiet the older children pick something calm at the table — puzzles, books, drawing. Nobody is held on a mat for two hours.
You can collect after lunch any day — just tell us in the morning, so we do not put them into pyjamas for nothing.
2.15–2.45pm
Afternoon tea
Fruit or vegetables with every snack, and bread from the bakery on the High Street. There is something to drink all day — water and milk, in jugs the children can reach themselves.
2.45–4.00pm
Extras and free play
Forest School on Tuesday, pottery on Wednesday, and on Thursday the minibus goes to the pool in town. Anyone not doing one is back in the garden or playing in the room. The extras are optional and nobody is made to feel they are missing out.
4.00–6.00pm
Home time
We hand your child over ourselves and always say two things about the day — what went well and what did not. We lock up at six, so please allow for that; late collection is £10 for every quarter of an hour started.
Fees
Work out the fees in a minute
No “fees on request”. Choose the days, the food and the extras — you will see what you pay each month and what is in it. One button carries the figure into the form.
One-off when you start
A £75 registration fee — once, for the whole time your child is with us — and a refundable £250 deposit, returned when they leave.
How and when you pay
By standing order on the first of the month, a month in advance. The invoice comes by email, and we take Tax-Free Childcare and employer childcare vouchers.
Funded hours
We are open 51 weeks a year and take the government funded hours — 15 or 30 a week for eligible three and four year olds — stretched across the whole year. The calculator shows the fee before funding; funding comes off the invoice.
If you want to leave
One month’s notice, no reason needed and no penalty. We have no wish to keep anybody here who is not happy.
Photos
What it actually looks like
Ordinary days, not a staged photo session. Click to enlarge.
What to expect
Three questions worth asking any nursery, including us
Ask to read the whole Ofsted report, not the grade. The front page tells you very little. What matters is what the inspector wrote about the room your child would actually be in, and what the nursery did about it afterwards.
Ask what happens on a bad day. Who rings you, how soon, and what they try first when a child will not settle. A nursery that has never had a child cry at the door is describing a different nursery.
Ask who is in the room at 8am and at half five. Staffing is thinnest at the two ends of the day, which is exactly when you see it. Ask to visit then rather than at eleven o’clock.
How it works
From the first phone call to the first day
We do not want you signing up blind. Three steps, none of which commits you to anything.
-
You get in touch
You fill in the form or ring us. Within two working days we will tell you whether there is room in your child’s age group, and arrange a visit.
within 2 working days -
You come and look round
Bring your child, mid-morning while everything is running if you like. We walk round the rooms and the garden while they play. It takes about three quarters of an hour and costs nothing.
about 45 minutes -
We sign, then settle in
A two page agreement, the registration fee, then a settling-in week at your pace. Children can start in the middle of the year when there is a place.
settling in 1–4 weeks
Come and look round before you decide
The best way to tell whether Nest suits you is to come on an ordinary day around ten — when the children are outside and nothing has been laid on for you.
Get in touch
Ask us anything
The quickest way to reach us is by phone between half twelve and two, while the children are resting. Otherwise we answer when we can — or write, we read email every evening.
-
Where to find usThe Old Dairy, Barton Road, Ely CB7 4DE
entrance from the yard, parking along the fence -
Phone01632 960418
-
Opening hoursMonday to Friday 7.30am–6pm
open 51 weeks a year, closed bank holidays and Christmas week
