CHILDREN from Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery in Bishop’s Stortford became gardeners for the day as they planted flower seeds at nearby Countryside Homes development. 

Vistry Group, the UK’s leading provider of affordable mixed-tenure homes invited the youngsters down to St Michael’s Hurst, where it is building new homes under its Countryside Homes brand on land off Farnham Road. 

All the children were given flower seeds to sow on the day in new planters outside the show home on Barker Close, and a plaque has been put in place so that when the flowers come up, visitors will know who planted them. 

The nursery was gifted with packets of their own seeds and trowels for children to plant at the nursery or in their gardens at home. The seeds and soil were all donated by MBM Landscapes working at the development. 

Aimee Gill, deputy nursery manager at Monkey Puzzle Nursery in Bishop’s Stortford, said: “This was a wonderful opportunity for the pre-school children at Monkey Puzzle Bishops Stortford to learn about our local environment and interact with the community around us. The children enjoyed meeting the team and learning how to use garden tools to plant seeds which we can then watch grow when we go on our morning walks.”  

Lisa Hill, regional sales and marketing director for Vistry Central Home Counties, said: “It’s very important to us to make connections with the community where we are building new homes. The Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery is located just around the corner from our St Michael’s Hurst development so we thought it would be nice to invite the children to the site and provide an opportunity for them to learn while having fun.  

“It was delightful to host the event, and I’m grateful to MBM Landscapes for donating the soil and seeds for the children to plant and providing tips during the activity. We hope they had a memorable morning, and we look forward to seeing the flowers bloom. We hope to continue our relationship with the nursery and offer more opportunities to get involved with the staff and children.” 

Vistry is building 529 homes in total across all phasesat St Michael’s Hurst, including a mix of high-specification three to five-bedroom houses for private sale. To find out more about the development, visit www.countrysidehomes.com.