nannies, do you have a limit on how far your bosses will let you drive?

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Hello
Just a general question on here - when we still lived in London, it was fairly easy to define where we expect nanny to go/visit on days out. We are now living in the country (ish, still in a town) and was wondering if we should give any guidelines as to how far they can go for days out (particularly as it's still school holidays) - i feel there should be a limit, or shall we just go by common sense? i was thinking 15 mile radius? am i overthinking this?

No - though I suspect you may have already guessed that from what I've written on the subject recently.

15 miles sounds a very short way to me. 120 mile round trips are quite possible for me to do. Though I would not claim all that mileage, I'd claim 1/3.

Consider some things:
How far is it to a castle?
How far is it to a beach?
How far is it to a steam railway?
How far is it to a national trust property / english heritage property?
How far is it to a indoor hands-on science centre?
How far is it to a natural history museum?

By having a nanny, your children may get to do things they would not normally do with you. It can expand their world and enhance their understanding of the world around them.
If they have an interest in castles, are you going to deny them the opportunity to visit some?

Make sure your nanny submits mileage claim with itemised trip details. Then you can see how it goes and then suggest that some trips seem a bit far.

fair enough nannynick
i think i am just thinking this out loud as we lived in london for 10 years (8 years with kids) so everything was there! beach, railways etc, we did with them on the weekends.
but now we're here in the country.....well, there's just so many national trusts places, interesting bits to see - BUT we've only had our new nanny for a week and a bit - so it's still the getting to know you phase and i was wondering if parents who employ nannies in the country set some sort of guidelines. i think in principle i would agree with you, i suspect it's me getting more comfortable with our new nanny

With luck some parents will give their view.

Talking of London, for me that's only 20 miles away but the cost of getting there (by train) is horrendous. It's not really viable to drive.

Perhaps look at the total cost of an outing... if the distance is long and the admission cost is high, then it's not a sensible place to visit. If it's low cost or even free... it makes it more viable to travel further to it - if that makes sense.

Just worked out my weekly average mileage during the last 2 years... 97.1 miles per week.
I'm an out-and-about nanny, I do try to make that clear at interviews. That works out as a mileage claim of £10 per day! Which sounds high... until you look at the cost of say a train, or far worse a taxi.

Get itemised mileage claim... monitor it and if needed impose a weekly or monthly limit in terms of the mileage claim (that way your nanny can fiddle creatively account the mileage so it fits in budget - nanny takes the hit for the overspend).

Where has your nanny taken them so far?

those are very useful suggestions, thanks
she has taken them to woodlands (bedgebury), a wildlife reserve, pooh corner (hartfield), and possibly a hop farm and hever castle next week. she has asked permission first, which is fine and the rest of the mileage is to do with the stuff i've asked her to do with them (swimming lessons etc). so no real issue in terms of costs as yet as these are all within 15 miles one way. i think the mileage will add up at the moment as it is school hols and in reality, come term time, there won't be much time!

No. I can take my charges whereever I please. I took all four away for a week once and that was 300km away.

If you trust her with your children then you really should trust her to drive.

It can be useful to get membership to places visited often. Recently I've spotted that HHA list Hever Castle as being Free For those with Friends Membership - also another local place to you included is Riverhill Gardens which is nice to visit.
Hever is also free for RHS members.
I always try to take advantage of any offers, membership schemes etc. Helps reduce the costs.

Anyway, hope some parents who employ nannies come on this thread and give you their view.

No set limit, but MB has in a roundabout way said that local is better and longer journies during the holidays should be limited to once a weekish. The furthest we go is about a 38 mile round trip. I feel this is quite fair as the mileage costs do mount up.

you arent in the country its a nightmare living in the country,wait till you come to my work, im really in the country and get snowed in lol

15miles is nothing and you know my manic tuesday and i do 70miles then to and fro school/nursery/tumbletots/tennis etc

come next week when no 1 goes to a different school to no 2 my daily school run will be about 18miles round trip - so 35ish miles a day, let alone any other activitys

is it the mileage you are worried about,ie costs mounting up? as yes 40p per mile does add up

i thought you were going to previde a nanny car?

in answer to your question, i have no set limit,mb/db totally trust me and i go and do what i like

my 1st week there(4yrs ago) i went to brighton my 2nd day for a nanny meet/play on beach etc and they were fine

i drive to legoland/ beach/drucillas zoo - tomorrow we are going to beach (weather permitting) and will be a 130 round trip

but i get a car so no milage costs

How experienced at driving is your nanny? I don't have a set limit because my nanny doesn't have a driver's licence, but I have told her that she needs to see about getting one soonish (she knew this before taking the job, so it's no great surprise and not a new expectation). Once that happens though I will definitely limit where she will drive the DCs simply because she will be new to driving. Once she has more confidence and I have more confidence in her driving ability then the distances could increase.

My DC are also quite young and DS2 doesn't like long drives at all, so it would have to be somewhere pretty special to warrant driving for great distances, but TBH for me destinations are measured in time not distance, as heading towards London takes longer than heading outwards.

yes, we will be providing a car -- but just in the process of buying one for their us at the moment (she only drives an automatic).
Not really about mileage costs to be honest, i was just wondering if parents set a limit! i think i will be fairly relaxed here as she has been driving for 10 years!
Nannynick -- will look into all those memberships. i have just taken out one for the national trust places but will look at RHS as well etc.
thanks for all the inputs all! I feel quite new to all of this!

i LOVE automatics, and weirdly enough last 3 work cars have been them

happy car buying, tho VERY nice of you to buy an automatic just for her