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about The lime trees

The Lime Trees' story is rooted in helping and supporting each individual family. We're more flexible and affordable than any other nursery, with a brilliant service through every stage of your child's experience

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About us cont.

Our staff develop nurturing yet highly professional relationships with parents so we involve you in the care and education of your child while they're with us. We've developed strong partnerships with local schools and other agencies to ensure we're fully promoting the well-being of all children as they prepare to progress to school life.

Our aim is to be transparent with you at any point of contact, from our business procedures to what activities your child is doing throughout the day. We also promote our 'open door' policy so you can pop in whenever you like to see how child is progressing - or just to play.

"It is the standard of the staff that makes the wraparound care exceptional in my opinion. We didn't know childcare as good as this existed." - parent, 2015. 

What makes us outstanding?

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“I’m confident that you won’t find another childcare provider like The Lime Trees. I know that because, believe me when I tell you, as both a childcare professional and a parent, I’ve looked! To understand how and why we’re different, it’s worth knowing where it all started. 

Professionally, I’ve been in the childcare industry since my early 20s. I became increasingly frustrated at how most providers failed to realise that they were a direct reflection on schools – often, not a good one. More than just shoddy signage and no uniforms, venues were regularly under resourced and lacked the equipment and basic supplies to offer an engaging experience. I saw qualified childcare staff spending more time as administrators than actually working with the children in their care and disjointed communications that compromised service and safety. All in all, this type of set-up fast became a burden on the very staff and schools it was meant to be supporting. 

When the time came that I also needed to utilise childcare services for my daughter, I faced a battle at every stage. From the lack of flexibility around the sessions that she could attend to the ever-growing fees, which even forced me to review my own working situation. Communication was slow and inconsistent, often leaving me feeling like the last to know. More than anything, I’d have loved to have had the option to be involved in my daughter’s development; to see what she was learning and how she was progressing. Instead, I was left with a fundamental blind-spot, with the service I was accessing feeling more like a holding pen than high quality childcare. Needless to say, it seemed a constant uphill struggle for families too. And, when I asked around, I found almost every other parent I spoke to felt the same way. 

How was this the norm? From either perspective. The collective thoughts, fears and disappointments created a drive in me to better the system. For children, for families, for staff and for schools. And so, in 2013, The Lime Trees was born.

My ambition is for The Lime Trees to be the largest childcare provider, UK-wide. And we’re on our way. I’m incredibly proud that so many schools have seen that there is a better way of doing things and have chosen to partner with us. If you’re reading this, then I can only assume you’re thinking of doing the same. And for that, I’d like to say a very heartfelt ‘thank you’.”

message from our founder 

“I’m confident that you won’t find another childcare provider like The Lime Trees. I know that because, believe me when I tell you, as both a childcare professional and a parent, I’ve looked!
- Gareth Degenhart, founder.
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Key information

As a family-first business, our aims are simple: we support the community and families in it to make sure we're contributing at all levels, while giving children a brilliant platform on which to build their education.


Our values:

Enrich
The lives we touch are at the heart of everything we do

Play
We bring moments of infectious laughter to create happy memories

Invest
People are always valued over profit

Outstanding
Improving today for an even better tomorrow

Extra Mile
Where others would stop, we do a little bit more

Transparent
We hold our hands up when things are not right

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What makes us different

We're different to other nurseries and childcare clubs as we have an ingrained focus on quality. We continuously assess our offering through the eyes of parents... 

Our owner Gareth Degenhart is a father who set up The Lime Trees out of sheer frustration from his experiences with the childcare settings his daughter attended.

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Our Locations

Head Office

7d Colwick Quays Business Park,
Colwick, Nottingham, NG4 2JY
T: 0115 9313562

More coming online soon

We are always growing and so keep checking back to discover our latest scheme.

Stay connected

Welcome to our social media live feed on all things Lime Trees. Our keen members of staff will post the latest up to date news, pics and stories here for you to read.