Northampton Chronicle and Echo's Nursery of the Year winner revealed
Acorn Day Nursery, based at Brafield-on-the-Green, came out top of our yearly poll to find the best nursery in the town on its first time of entering.
Situated in a picturesque Victorian-built primary school, the centre takes in up to 40 children at a time from four months up to school age.
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Hide AdAnd its emphasis on outdoor play has proved a real hit since it launched in 1997, with parents travelling from as far as Bedford to take their children there.
Nursery manager Claire Overton-Arch said: "The parents have voted for us, which is amazing.
"It's a really nice recognition of the work the staff do on a daily basis."
The nursery is brimming with activities to keep the children there entertained throughout the day, from tricycles, to sandpits and even a set of resident chickens - Pepa, Burt and Teddy.
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Hide Ad"We just feel that outdoor play is good for their general wellbeing," added Claire.
"The children go and fetch the eggs every day, they make sure they have water.
"It teaches the children about responsibility and they really enjoy it."
Claire said the 13-strong team at the 'good'-rated nursery are all passionate about helping the toddlers develop at a crucial stage in their young lives.
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Hide Ad"Watching the children grow from a baby to being these confident young children who are ready for school is the best part of the job," said Claire. "We are really lucky to know that we have been a part of that.
"We try to teach them a can-do attitude - as well as developing a bit of resilience for later life."
The Chronicle and Echo's Nursery of the year competition saw a long list of 40 whittled down to just 10.
Throughout May, readers cut out slips in the Chron in order to vote for their favourite nursery in the town.
In a repeat of last year - Busy Bees in Kettering Road took second place in the 2019 competition and Nene Valley Day Nursery in Cliftonville polled third.