A St Ives nursery based on a farm has been shortlisted for three national awards for sharing their passion for nature.

Meadow Lane Children’s Nursery is a family-run business that opened about three years ago.

They help children understand the importance of nature and what is means for the future of the planet.

Children can see the care that goes into an onsite farm by milking goats, making cheese, collecting eggs and harvesting vegetables.

A bee hive with two trained bee keepers was even introduced last year.

In February Meadow Lane got an Outstanding rating from Ofsted and on the back of this were nominated and shortlisted in the finals of national Nursery World Awards.

The three categories they are in are Nursery of the Year 2020, Enabling Environments 2020 and Nursery Manager of the Year.

The judgement took place via a zoom call and was an hour and a half interview and video tour of the nursery held by Helen Moylett.

The team will be up against four other nurseries in the main award – Nursery of the Year UK.

Sophia Covill, nursery owner and manager, said: “Helen is a huge inspiration to us all, she is renowned in the early years sector as an author and who was instrumental in the principles of the early years curriculum.

“We are absolutely over the moon just to be in the finals, it is such a huge achievement for us in such a short space of time and especially with the difficult year all businesses have had to face.

“We have begun work on building a geodesic dome, in our forest school, this was inspired by The Eden Project and will become an indoor/outdoor learning and investigation centre for our children.

“We hope the passion for the natural world stays with our children throughout their lives and makes a small difference for the future of everyone.”

The award winners will be announced in February.