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The nursery yard at child height: a timber gate propped open with a stone, a row of small wet wellies on an old brick step and a muddy doormat, with the brick workshop wall and window behind

Just off South Street, Bridport

Wheelwright's Yard Nursery

A small day nursery in an old converted workshop, for children from 9 months to school age.

A low-angle shot of a weathered, peeling painted wooden door with a small knit cardigan hanging from a wooden peg, and a pair of muddy boots standing on a brick patio in front of a garden.
The back door, with a cardigan hanging on a peg.

Pinned to the back door

The four things you ask me every week

Written down here so nobody has to ring and ask. Each note goes through to the full answer.

  • Fees

    I've written the day rate out in full on its own page, with what it includes, so you can see it before you ever ring me.

    The full fees

  • Funded hours

    Yes, we take them. How the funded hours work here, and what they do and don't cover, is set out plainly on the fees page.

    How the funded hours work

  • What they eat

    Asked every week, and fair enough. What the children are eating this week is written up on the Inside the Yard page.

    What they eat this week

  • A space in September

    Updated 7 October 2026I'm already being asked about September 2027. Tell me your child's age and I'll say straight out whether there's a space in the right room, or how long the list is.

    Ask about September
An adult's lap and wool-jumpered arms at child height, a small hand resting on the sleeve, with daylight from a large workshop window behind

A word from Claire

I own the nursery, and I still work in the baby room three days a week.

I'm Claire. Wheelwright's Yard is mine, and I'd rather be in the baby room than behind a desk, so that's where you'll find me three days a week.

It's about thirty children a day across two rooms, which is small enough that nobody is a name on a list.

Most of what you'd want to know is written on these pages. Anything that isn't, ask me when you come to look round.

Claire

Small on purpose

Two rooms, about thirty children, and me in the baby room.

This is the whole of it. There's no head office and no other branch; what you see when you look round is what there is.

Inside the workshop at knee height: a low wooden shelf of baskets, two small painted chairs and a row of named pegs along an old brick wall
2 rooms
A baby room and a room for the older children, both in the one converted workshop.
About 30
Children a day. Enough for friends, few enough to be known.
9 months
To school age. The youngest start at nine months; the oldest leave us for school.
3 days
A week that I work in the baby room myself, as the owner and as a pair of hands.

Garden and river

Where the days go

We spend a lot of our time outside: in the garden through the gate, and on walks down to the river with tabards on, where there are stones to turn over and shallow water to look at. Wellies come home wet. That's rather the point of an outdoor nursery in Bridport.

Have a look inside the yard
Seen from behind at knee height, a short line of tiny hi-vis tabards and wellies heading down a green lane toward the river
Down the lane
Two small hands turning over a wet river stone above pebbles and shallow clear water at the river's edge
At the water's edge

Most people hear about us first

You were probably told about us by another parent.

Most families who come to us heard about us from another parent, and nearly all of them want to see inside before they ring. I'd want the same. So these pages are the look round the yard you'd otherwise have to ask me for. The real one still has mud on the mat, and you're welcome to it.

The garden gate from inside the yard, held open with a stone, its rusted latch the colour of old brick and the lane beyond

Come and see

Come and have a look round

The best way to decide is to stand in the yard. Tell me a day that suits you and I'll show you both rooms, the garden and the step where the wellies live.

Arrange a look round

We're just off South Street in Bridport. Directions are on the visit page.