Carol and Martin Cooper set up the 68-place Coneygarth Farm Day Nursery at their farm in Haxey, near Doncaster, in 1997. Soon after they opened the 60-place Flying Start Day Nursery in nearby Finningley. Their latest venture, Kids at Coneygarth, is an after-school and holiday club for children aged five to 11.
The business has proved so successful that the Coopers have decided to set up a consultancy offering people professional help and advice in running their own day nursery. Their product, the Ultimate Coneygarth Package, contains a CD with all the paperwork required to start and run a nursery, help with business plans and advice on cash flow.
Mrs Cooper said, 'Starting a new business has been a fantastic and challenging experience and I want to help others who want to do the same, but aren't sure how to go about it.'
Since launching the consultancy the Coopers have helped several farm owners start their own nurseries. Mrs Cooper also came runner-up in Country Living magazine's Enterprising Rural Woman Awards in 2003.
Rachel Ashelford, a rural development service adviser in Yorkshire and Humber for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said that there was 'often a lack of nursery facilities within rural areas'
and the Coopers were helping to build 'sustainable rural communities by creating employment in the area and boosting the local economy'.
She said, 'They have achieved so much by diversifying, and as they have first-hand experience of setting up a business, they are well placed to pass on their knowledge to other farmers, who are also thinking of diversifying.'
The inspiration for Coneygarth Farm Day Nursery came about when Mrs Cooper gave birth to triplets ten years ago. She said, 'We struggled to find childcare facilities in the area, so we applied for a Defra grant which enabled us to convert a large barn into a nursery and a disused milking parlour into a baby unit.'
The couple now employ 32 members of staff and continue to run the farm alongside their nursery business.
