I couldn't resist this picture. It has no relevance to us at all. We have no giraffes here, we are not even flying when we go on holiday later next month. We're InterRailing! It's just a really funny pic that I had to share with you. I'm writing this blog at the end of a long Secret Garden Admin day. My task has been to encourage regulars who haven't yet booked for this Summer, and newbies who we want to welcome warmly - but who we are afraid may leave it too late to book. Yes peeps, we are booking up so fast. Already we have closed booking for some days. I would like to thank you all peeps, for your continuing support. We have had an average of 1000 visitors per month to our site! I can't believe it! And so many of you come back holiday after holiday. Here is an extract from an open letter to a parent - it outlined what we do and how educational it is. We've got something right, because its the very best fun too :) Hope you enjoy reading this, and that the new visitors to my blog can grasp the true magic of our Secret Garden days: "In terms of specifics, it is difficult to tell you exactly what we do because our themes and activities change every day/week - for example, we had Science days at Easter when we experimented with eggs, water and ice, talking about capacity, liquids and solids, gravity, forces, and much more - interspersed with time around the camp fire, cooking and down time playing with the parachute. We have had 'Apple day' where we went to our neighbour's (Lord Coleridge's) orchard and picked apples, brought them back and used them for a whole range of activities such as apple pies, apple target practice with our own hand made woodland catapults, we photographed and drew them, dissected them, printed with them, researched how best to grow an apple tree and planted the seeds, we fed the windfalls to Ruby our pet piggy. We recently had 'tree day' where we observed and drew trees, we had a local artist who offered tuition in sketching and the children produced some awesome pictures. We did bark rubbings, lay underneath and gazed up at the canopies and wrote poetry, shook the bugs out onto a sheet, then identified and researched them. We measured them, estimated the height then calculated it using a mathematical method, We discussed and explained methods for gauging the age of the trees and even touched on the science of carbon dating with some eager and inspired older children. Finally we created a 12 ft sculpture in the garden made of wood and filled with leaves. We have 3 separate walled areas to our gardens, and it is entirely possible to have 2 or 3 different groups working on something appropriately pitched in entirely different areas. But when we come together, it is delightful to see how the children interact and what pleasure they get from being with children much older or younger than themselves. It is so much better than PSHE. It is natural, enchanting bonding, developing the ability to consider others and their differing needs. Cherishing a link with like minded people. Breaking the barriers of the strict age driven groupings of state schooling. The children love this time too. My children are 15 and 13. They fully participate in all our days in the holidays. Along with the others they are actually getting a fabulous education, great grounding for the future, and an experience that just isn't available at school." I have to admit to being a little proud of who we are and what we do. Thank you for being part of it too :) x x Hey peeps, this blog is another little explanation about the admin side of things, and my ideas to save me from drowning under a pile of paperwork when I should be entertaining (or planning how to entertain) your special little ones. As mentioned in the previous blog, the latest invoices are slightly different. They ask for payment 2 weeks before the holiday. So this time, payment is due on Monday 13th May. Apologies to our regular early payers who do this every time anyway, but we've had to introduce a system to try to ensure all accounts are settled in plenty of time. The 2 weeks before the activities begin are very hectic. I am sourcing materials, organizing activities and resources and preparing the house and garden. And once the holiday days begin I am busy looking after your beautiful peeps from early in the morning. So taking and chasing money during those days is not really fair on the children, and disrupts our fun. Although occasionally a parent might genuinely need to pay on the day, it is not something we want to be doing very often. Please let me know if you need more time to pay. We are very nice here, and we'll organize something. But for the sake of everyone's children, please try to help us get all of the accounts and paperwork out of the way as quickly as possibly. Remember, if you cancel after you have paid, we will endeavour to re-sell your places and refund you. This usually isn't too difficult because we are often over subscribed. This blog hasn't been the easiest to write. I find looking after your kids so much easier than making rules and getting the admin side to work efficiently, and I don't like talking about money at all - so do help me peeps! And don't just push those invoices under a pile of newspapers until nearer the time!! Now then, how many feathers have you collected so far. Remember our theme this holiday is flight. Bring on the wings and magical wing-ed creatures!!! And finally, we are very grateful for your loyalty, and of course, look forward to seeing your children again in just over 2 weeks. Jules :) Hey peeps! I know, another blog! You just can't keep me quiet! Well, as I said before, the weather wasn't great last holiday, and although we had a temporary roof on the Hobbit House, it was a bit cold, so we did loads of fun things inside including cooking amazing pizza bread which we ate for lunch, and flowerpot cakes which were decorated with nests, icing eggs and crazy birds. Although we hope to have the Hobbit House finished for the next holiday, we always have our beautiful welcoming kitchen to fill with the sound of laughter, the smell of baking and the happy faces of your amazing children. I will never lose sight of the magic we have created here. This is our home, and a very special place to share with a few of you ;) So, now to Whit. Our theme is 'Flight' – so think butterflies and dragonflies, parachutes and planes, wings and feathers. Hopefully we'll be outside all day long, soaking up the sun and breathing in the fresh Ottery air. In the meantime, save all feathers you find in your garden – they might just come in handy! Please remember to smother your children in sun cream as we're not allowed to do that, so short of calling you up and asking you to come back, we have no alternative but to keep them indoors if they're not 'lathered up' (our Corkhill way of putting it!!) – which isn't easy and takes a whole member of staff away from their group – spoiling it for the other children. And hey, who wants to stay indoors when everyone else is splashing through the stream and lying in the daisies. Talking of the stream, most children like to walk up and down it – and bare feet isn't ideal. This is a garden, centuries old, and who knows what might appear in the stream!! So please send in flip flops or water shoes if your child thinks they might like to wade! Wellies are great too – but you can't beat the feeling of cool water running over your toes!! So with that thought I leave you peeps. There are great and promising weeks ahead – and one more holiday before Summer – so do book your holiday provision quickly. Some days are already full. You will notice that the bottom of your invoice has changed a bit – and asks for all payments to be made on receipt of the invoice. I'm so sorry I have to do this, but it just doesn't work for me having to do paperwork once the children start arriving in the mornings. So lets try really hard to get that side of things out of the way a week or two before the holiday commences – or as soon as you get the invoice if that's possible. I'm afraid I'll have to start re-allocating places that are not paid for on time because we had 3 no shows last holiday, and that kind of thing hits us hard, being a small business, and having booked staff to cover the numbers we thought we'd have. Well that's the yucky admin side of things done – all that remains is to say thank you for your continued support – for the loan of your beautiful little ones and for the trust you put in us to look after them well and teach them cool things in the wonderful outdoors. Bring on the Summer! Jules :) Hey everyone! Can't believe yet another holiday has passed. It was a great start to the week - sunshine and a feeling of Spring in the air. We baked bread outside, sat around the camp fire and ate our fill. We loved 'bird day', and the children went home with bird feeders and little bags of bird food tailored to the varieties of bird that they might find in their gardens at home. Camp building day was a great hit, and I was amazed at the different styles of camp that the children produced. And I must thank Roger for sawing and hammering away and making such a great frame for each child to get their camp started. It was an interesting holiday, with a few ups and downs, and as a result we have made an effort to allow the Secret Garden to evolve and become even more efficient and exciting for the children and us. It's very exciting! I'll list below some of the changes which we have made. But please don't worry, there will not be any changes that you need to be concerned about, and all future bookings are secure.
Hello Peeps! Not much peeping coming from these big old chicks! Yes the Buff Orpingtons grew very fast over the winter, and now look very beautiful and handsome. Children coming at Feb 1/2 term should be able to still see them running around the garden. And with any luck we should experience the first egg at any moment. It will be very exciting checking every morning to see if it has happened!!!! By Easter the big old chicks will be living with Ruby at the bottom of the garden in a special new house. Ruby is looking forward to this time, when she gets company around the clock again. The practical news we have to share with you is the redesigned situation with the lunches. It has become quite complicated to ensure all children have a hearty meal at lunchtime, and with the inevitable differences in taste, and as we've often felt obliged to provide alternatives and have also seen good food sometimes wasted, we have decided to streamline our lunch system and provide a menu for each day in advance. Children can opt to bring packed lunches, but at only £1 per lunch here, we feel it is still the cheapest, yummiest and most convenient option.. The new system will apply to breakfast (served to any child who books one and arrives before 9am), lunch (times vary for group lunch depending on activity - but any child on the premises between 12 and 2 can have lunch with us) and tea (also known as supper, served to any child who books one and is still here after 5pm), but snacks and drinks will still be provided free of charge as before. Menus will be posted on the website with a Facebook link sometime during the week before the holiday club commences. You can let us know which meals you require, and pay for them on a daily basis. No advance booking required. It will be a bit like the way they do it school - we'll do a meal register each day so we all know where we are. I hope that this new system makes everyone's lives easier - for us it will mean that each child has been made aware of what is on offer in advance, and thus should be happy eating what is on the menu (or they will have brought a packed lunch) - it will save time and prevent waste. And because it saves waste, and reduces our overheads it means that we can keep our very competitive rates the same despite the rising cost of living. And thus we will all be very happy peeps :) There are still some spaces especially on Monday 18th. Book while you can. They go very fast once the banner goes up - and that's my next plan for today. Happy February dear friends. I'm hoping for a lovely spell of mild dry weather and a half term outside building camps and chilling out (not getting chilly!!) by the campfires. Best wishes from us all x x x Hi peeps! We all hope that you have had a lovely Christmas so far... It's only a few days to the next Secret Garden Holiday Days! We're working hard on the activities because we want to make this an unforgettable time for both our regulars and our newcomers. The trees are so beautiful that I'm glad that they're being used right up until the very end of the Christmas period. Well the good news is that I'm planning on teaming up with my amazing work colleague and past business partner to try to revive our pre-school plans. We're going to start to look for a premises early in the new year, so watch this space for details as they come in. Our new setting will reflect all of the values and experiences that the Secret Garden has to offer. I love sharing my plans with you peeps. We're a big Secret Garden family and I would have no business if it wasn't for you. Needless to say, the Holiday Club will continue to be located here - offering the same memorable days throughout the year. For me 2013 will be a year of realizing dreams and making progress. I have great plans for the future of the Holiday Club, and on a personal note I also intend to do all of those creative things I always meant to do. Have a lovely celebration on New Years Eve, and a safe journey into 2013. We were ever so glad that the world didn't end in 2012!! Jules x Well peeps I have to report that it has been a frustrating and thankless week, and the long and short of it is that due to certain restrictions on this property relating to it's use, we have had to shelve the brilliant plan to accept pre school children during term time. I can only apologise to all those who have got excited and expressed an interest, I will be emailing you all individually. At times like this you really wonder how to pick up your spirits and move on, but although I am really disappointed, I will be ploughing all that wasted enthusiasm in to the School Holiday Club. I am looking at extending hours and possibly offering special sessions for younger children if possible. I will be going ahead with the Ofsted registration as before, and we will still be offering places for under 8's for at least 14 days per year - so all is good. And the future is still bright. I was lying in bed at this morning thinking about how I had to write this blog and thus let my pre school dreams go, when for no reason at all, my iphone, which had been plugged into a speaker all night to charge, turned itself on and played the end of a Newton Falkner song. Here are the words he sung: "My best-laid plans are washed away No time to make 'em all again Sometimes life gets in the way We've got to keep on breathing Look how far we've come Look what we've made Started from nothing, building Brick by, brick by Brick by, brick by Brick by, brick by Brick All we have is us To build back up What we have lost But that's enough Thanks Newton. Yes we have already built something amazing here :) Merry Christmas peeps - we love you all <3 Hey peeps! It's been a while, and I can assure you I have been very very busy since our lovely Autumn extravaganza! I have lots of news for you - you have probably read about our intention to accept preschool children early next year. It has been (and still is) quite a slog getting it all sorted out! I have decided to get business advice via Devon County Council, which has proved very interesting. I have a better idea of how it will work now, and by Easter we should be offering funded places and already have one Ofsted inspection under our belts. We are also soon to run out of discretionary days where Ofsted allows under 8's to attend without registration. I am pleased to tell you that we will also be registering the School Holiday Club on the Childcare register, so you will be able to use funding vouchers soon for holiday care too, and we will be able to accept under 8's for ever and ever!. The garden and house will need a bit of adapting before the preschoolers arrive, but it is all very exciting, and as far as the holiday club is concerned, the new risk assessments and facilities will only make it a better place for all (although it won't be as easy to get into the cupboards bigger peeps!!!). Another exciting thing is the new Christmas banner which will go up as soon as I can coax Roger out of his office!! And I have had to order a new small banner, due to our original one being torn and destroyed during the recent storms. There is a competition - the first person to tell me on Facebook that they've seen the new banner will get a Christmassy bottle of wine with our love when they next drop off their child/children. GOOD LUCK PEEPS. We can't wait to welcome the next group of children into our traditionally decorated historic Christmas home in January, and we will have lots of fun activities to blow away the January blues! In the meantime, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a love filled New Year. All the very best, and with love to all our Secret Garden friends, from Roger, Jules, Maisie and Miles x x x Hey Autumn peeps! I have so looked forward to this time of year. It's my favourite season, and we have been working hard to come up with the most fun, exciting and Halloweeny activities we can manage. The garden has gone through a few difficult storms, as have yours I expect! We are a tree down, but this brings loads of light into the garden where it was a little dark. We have 6 big old chicks now, and as far as we know there are only 2 cockerels. We will keep them until they stop getting on, then one will be looking for a lovely home. They are pure Buff Orpingtons, so will make very good dads if anyone wishes to add some new posh blood to their flock!! Ruby is getting on very well. She's on a diet however, and will be very excited to know that our new day FRIDAY NOV 2nd is Apple Day. Children do not have to like eating apples, although there will be plenty to eat - in many forms. We will be playing games with windfalls - all of which will be offered to Ruby at the end of the day. So no waste at all! Enough said, if you like toffee apples, chocolate apples, apple bobbing, shooting apples with catapults, and of course, apple pie and crumble, then book early to avoid disappointment! I am so excited about it that I can hardly wait! It's been great fun conjuring up the apple activities. If you have any windfalls that you don't want we might be in the market for a donation ;) It is so great to see so many of the old faces returning for Secret Garden fun. And we also have some new children who we welcome with open arms. It is your little peeps who make this what it is. I love to stand still occasionally and listen to the laughter drifting across the garden and into the town. This is a magical place and what a week it is going to be. It begins with the Carnival on Friday, followed by our own initiative The Swing Barn Craft Fair where you can buy all your Christmas Craft and goodies on Sat 27th. It opens at 10am and runs all day until 4pm. Do come and support us. We're raising money for the choir. Then 5 days of Holiday Club - with non stop Halloween fun. Followed by, of course, Tar Barrels and Bonfire night on the Monday. I hope you all have a super week, and remember, there are still a couple of places left during the week, and Friday - Apple Day - is a great bet as we only launched that day today!! But hurry - we may be full by tomorrow!! Happy Autumn peeps. It is a real joy to be able to spend it with you. The Summer event weeks were a fabulous success. Firstly I'd like to thank all the parents and children who have supported us and given us a fabulous time. It is such a great thing to be entrusted with other people's children, and allowed to spend long summer days having fun, baking, playing, building, painting.. the list goes on and on. The last day was gloriously hot. We all felt that despite the heat, everyone was chilled. We played games, hung out in the woods, ate lemon curd, made a teepee tea party and invited some parents (the last of whom left at midnight...!!). There were 3 birthdays to celebrate, and as you can see from the picture, they all shared the limelight very well! Maisie celebrated her birthday on the 11th, Roger on the 12th and Theo on the 13th of August. So we had to have a table full of cupcakes and candles, and a very loud rendition of 'Happy Birthday'! Other news, we found a lovely little frog living in the stream, we nearly all ran out of the kitchen in terror when Theo and Luca brought in 2 giant spiders and we named the last nameless chick Custard! I do hope that we see our old friends again at 1/2 term - we already have so much support that there are only 3 spaces left on each day. New friends are welcome too - the days are allocated on a first come first served basis, and we should be Ofsted registered by then so hopefully I'll have worked out how to accept vouchers. Until then, I bid you goodbye and a HAPPY SUMMER! Keep looking at the website for news of dates, chicks and Ruby! The garden changes every day, it waits for the time when yet again it will hear the sound of happy voices and be filled with smiles and laughter. |
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