We looked at a lot of nurseries and different childcare options for our 11 month old and knew from the minute we met Julie that she was the right person for him and us. We are very luck to have found such a loving, capable, trustworthy and experienced childminder.

Our son settled in very quickly into the homely environment and was always happy to go to her. Even in bad weather Julie always made sure they went out at least once a day to a good variety of activities and he had plenty of opportunities to socialise. He learned a lot with her, we had him come home knowing numbers and days of the week before we had even thought about trying to teach him.

She took care of him as she would her own kids and was genuinely pleased to see him in the mornings. She would always let us know right away if he seemed under the weather, was teething or had a temperature.

We use washable nappies at home and Julie was very accommodating in also using them (not all childminders seemed keen on the idea!) and making sure they were changed regularly enough.

In the whole time Julie never once took time off sick and always gave us more than enough notice for holidays. Julie was completely reliable and was flexible and understanding with us if we ever had to make last minute changes to drop off and pick up time because of work.

Our son was 27 months old when we moved out of the area and we are staying in touch as Julie and her family have been such an important part of his life.

We wholeheartedly recommend Julie!

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• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication