Founders
In the beginning there were 3 girls, carrying a dream to spend their days at work outside in the natural world, all with experience in childcare, they had a vision to start an outdoor nursery, Muddy Boots Nursery School was born on the 1st September 2014.
Dani
I (Dani!) live a very outdoorsy lifestyle in Weymouth with my partner Tim and our campervan, Arlo!
I grew up on the north coast of Cornwall, all of my days ending with salty skin or covered head to toe in mud! For as long as I can remember I had a need to be outside and on some sort of adventure!
Growing up surrounded by stunning, wild coastline and miles of countryside, my roots have strongly connected me to nature and adventure!
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The restlessness for adventure grew as I got older and the need for travel has taken me all over the world! More recently living in the French Alps, and the wild Canadian mountains too, where I spent a lot of time snowboarding.
Every single spare moment I have I am outside, whether it be surfing, on the open road in our van, Arlo, snowboarding, kite surfing, paddleboarding, sea swimming, chasing sunrises and sunsets, exploring woods, hiking in the countryside, bike riding, anywhere I can be, as long as its outside!
When the vision for Muddy Boots was at the drawing board stage, there was one element I was sure of and that was that I wanted to give children the opportunity of the same exposure to the natural world that I had. I wanted the only screen that was talked about to be sunscreen, I wanted children going home covered in mud but bursting with excitement to talk about their days.
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Mel
Mel lives in Poole with her Aussie boyfriend, Liam and the softest, cuddliest Rottweiler doggie, you will ever meet Kobe.
Mel and Dani are sisters so grew up together on the North Cornish Coast. Mel remembers spending large amounts of her childhood in Cornish woodlands and building damns and adventuring on the wild Cornish beaches.
"Evenings, weekends, early mornings all outside exploring the amazing Cornish landscapes, I struggle to think of any memories I made not outside"
Mel lived just outside of New York for a while and her main aim there was to reconnect children to nature in urban areas.
Mel has never lost that need to be outside and craves time exploring other countries landscapes. Mel spends her days now, travelling the world, wild camping, snowboarding, hiking mountains, on epic dog hikes, roaming in the woods and just generally finding any reason to be outdoors!
Mel has a passion for helping people and understanding the way in which we feel and how we can improve this, through learning more about the brain and how it works, she has a degree in Psychology and a masters degree in Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology which she studied at Bournemouth University.
Mels outdoor roots and her interest in the mind allowed her to have a vision of creating a nursery school that not only got the children out into the healing nature but also a nursery that looked after the little minds that come through the doors.
Carna
Carna lives in Poole, Dorset with her gorgeous little family, her husband, Ollie, her beautiful little daughter Aoife and their crazy boxer dog, Harley!
Carna has an Irish background and will always tell us stories of her childhood spent roaming the Irish hills, exploring the vast Irish coastline, and of course having a few in the Irish pubs! She has spent so much of her childhood in Ireland, and talks about the feeling of escapism and freedom whilst there, still now holidaying there and reconnecting with this wild beautiful country.
"Growing up so connected to nature, I hit a point in my life where I knew I needed to keep this outdoor element and for me that eliminated so many careers that involved not being outside!"
Carna spends all of her spare time adventuring with her family, passionate about giving Aoife a similar upbringing to hers, they spend hours roaming the landscapes and coastlines of Dorset, wild camping and getting wrinkley skin in the sea! Ollie and Carna take every opportunity they can to take Aoife to countries that offers that wilderness feel, one of her first holidays being to Canada!
Carna's own childhood established a connection between her and the outdoors that has never faded. Her vision grew overtime, along with her ambition to create a space for children where they could learn outside of the classroom, in a eco friendly, sustainable nursery.
"Our idea snowballed and the first Muddy Boots opened on the 1st Sept 2014. It gained momentum very quickly and the parents seemed to love the idea, and as we got to know our families, we saw the parents light up as they talked about their childhoods spent outside. It just confirmed to us even more that this is what we needed to do. Since then we have opened 2 more Muddy Boots and we have exciting plans for the future to continue this movement of getting the whole family back into the great outdoors!