PLS HELP, Need to make country life appealing for my nanny!

[Page62]

Hi Guys
Brief Background. Our nanny has been with us for 3.5 years, looking after DD who is 6 and DS who is 4. We live in Clapham but now moving to Sevenoaks area for the Sept school year. We gave our nanny the option whether to come or not and to our absolute delight, she said yes. We have now found a house we want to bid for it's c20 mins away from Sevenoaks in a quiet/more rural village. I am now stricken with fear that my nanny (she's youngish, 27 yrs) will find it so cut off compared to London and decide it's not for her! i know there are other nannies out there, but to make sure i do the best i can to make the transition easy can you pls add to the list i have already thought of below?

1. we are giving her a one off bonus equivalent to what we would pay an agency for coming with us
2. we will let her have full use of the car on weekends so she can get out and about
3. looking to enrol her in a gym if she wanted to -- perhaps to meet some people?
4. making sure i get mums who also have nannies in the school to come for playdates so they can get to know each other

i know there's not much i can do if she finds it too lonesome -- hopefully not though....does someone know here if there is nanny community around sevenoaks...pls pls tell me there is......

if you are still reading this, thank you so much and would be grateful for any other advice! thanks

If she isn't the gym sort... you could enrol her for riding lessons. Expect there are places around Sevenoaks. Quick google produced Bradbourne Riding. Gym she could do in Clapham... Riding she probably couldn't do.

Check broadband access at your potential new home. In London you are probably used to having broadband. In rural locations you may not get it, or may only get it at a low speed. If the current owner has broadband, ask them what speed they get.

Find out all the places she could go with the children during school holidays. Sevenoaks is quite well placed for getting out and about to various historic houses/castles.
National Trust:
Chartwell, Emmetts Garden, Ightham Mote, Knole, Old Soar Manor, Quebec House
Further away are places like Bodiam Castle, Sissinghurst Castle.

English Heritage: Lullingstone Roman Villa, Eynsford Castle

Other places: Observatory Science Centre
Riverhill Gardens - very close to Sevenoaks.
Penshurst Place - Gardens with Playground and Toy Museum.

Shopping: Bluewater is less than 20 miles away.

Travel: Sevenoaks to London Charing Cross takes around 34 minutes by train.

hi nannynick

thanks so much for all these suggestions. she seems keen to come with us, i just want to make sure she doesn't feel so cut off. the house we are looking at is in a village, so it's not like there are no neighbours, but obviously, it ain't clapham where she can walk to most things!
thank you!

If she's been with you for 3.5 years she must be pretty fond of you!

we're pretty fond of her too! but she's young and london has so much to offer etc so i am scared the fondness might not be enough. having said that, i wouldn't want to see her miserable either -- i guess i am just hoping that she's right, that she will actually like living in that area of kent with us still........

You won't know until you try. It's not as though it's that far away... it's well under an hour by train to get back to London, if she wanted to see friends.

Her lifestyle in Sevenoaks may be different to Clapham. For example, the size of her room could be very different depending on the house you are looking at.

Has she expressed any concerns about coming?

She hasn't really expressed any concerns to be honest, i am just trying to anticipate it!
If we were able to get this house, then she has a bigger room and shower room and it is more private!

Get her onto Nannyjob's meet other nannies section to see who is around the area.

I think Blondes on here is from Kent and she knows everyone....

What a thoughtful employer you are, no wonder she stays with you.

aw, thanks tartyhighheels.
frankkinnuts, i will check that part of the website too.
thanks -- we're keeping our fingers crossed!

waves

been prodded to come and say hi

as frakk said this is my area - feel free to cat me or email me at [email protected] if you want any more info

sevenoaks has a HUGE nanny social circle and your nanny is welcome to come to our coffee mornings and meet some other nannies

i also organise summer activites/teddy bear picnics etc at my work as well as christmas stuff

where are you planning to move to - as depending which way you are 20mins away from sev, could mean 40mins from me iyswim

if school is private then again i know a few nannies at most private schools

as frakk says, i know everyone lol

ahhhhhhhhhhh must proof read - i have an e

[email protected]

oh oh oh! BHMF,thank you for responding!

Well, the house we are hoping to buy (putting in an offer tomorrow wish us luck!) is in Fairseat it is 5-10 minutes north of Wrotham....so a good 20 mins away from Sevenoaks...
the reason for the sevenoaks reference is the children are going to Sevenoaks Prep which is on Godden Green in the heart of Sevenoaks
I will email you -- we just have to make sure we get the house! (oh, and sell ours...but this is another story!)
thank you for the offer !!!

page62 - this is a slight hijack, but I notice the age of your children is similar to mine and I was wondering what jobs your nanny does during school hours? I ask because I have a nanny at the moment (I'm not working but am ill and need the extra pair of hands) and come September my youngest will start full time education and I was wondering how to keep the nanny busy when that happens? How do you handle this?

Pennies saw this and would like to respond properly will come back just putting kids to bed and then have dinner -
quick answer is we haven't handled it we're hoping for a 3rd (no, not yet pregnant) and as she is so wonderful, would really be happy to just keep her till that day happens) -- but more considered response coming!

thats MY side im about 5miles/10mins away - pratically go past my road on the way to school

though school run may take you 30mins each way

i have a 4 and 7 plus 22mths and a HUGE 10.5 stone dog who is a wimp - all bark and no balls (literally)

hope you have a 4 by 4 as when it snows, it snows, ive been snowed in twice

feel free to email - including an e lol

Hi again

Pennies - when we move, our nanny will be "free" from 9.30 (back from school run) to about 3pm (off for the school run). In that period, i would expect her to do general tidy up of the kids rooms/playroom, prepare meals, sort out clothes and laundry of kids etc. to be honest, i think this is plenty to get on with. i wouldn't begrudge her a session in the gym etc for as long as she's on top of the other stuff. the thing is, we really would hope for a 3rd, so she will definitely have her hands full then!

BHMF - yay! i'm on the right side. when i google map the house in fairseat and godden green, it does say 7.2miles, 19 minutes average. I am not doing the school run (ashamedly, i actually can't drive) -- our nanny will be doing this and we do have a 4x4 so hopefully will be ok. i'm really hoping she finds her feet there - she is soo lovely and down to earth etc and makes my life so wonderfully together. I will email you once we know re house (oh, i'm so stressed!)

Yes, that's the sort of thing we've got going on here. however, I find that she gets most stuff done by lunchtime. I've arranged for her to volunteer at the village nursery for two mornings and I give her a morning off a week as well. I have to have her right now because I often end up in hospital at short notice but I'm paying for her to do nothing much of the time. My nanny is live out though so she can go home but it still doesn't get rid of the fact that she's going to be paid a lot for doing nothing.

Might start another thread on here see what other MNers do.

page good luck with your offer today

i would be VERY suprised if school run took 19mins - the a25 is a nightmare at that time, tho she can do cross country which i do, but i know the area well

i know 2 nannies at sev prep - one with much older children but other got a 2yr and 5 - will pass on numbers

theres also a nanny halfway between me and you (if you get the house) with 3 and 6

we are scattered about, but tons to do if you dont mind her driving to sev for parks/gyms/music/toddler groups (for no 3)

BHMF - i have put in the offer this morning so keeping everything crossed! there were two other couples who viewed the house the same day as us.....i hope they hated it (hahaha)

Her school run at the moment is already c20-25 mins in london traffic, so i hope she won't mind it too much.....

thank you for being so friendly.

Welcome. I'm a very friendly socialable nanny

Helloooooooo Page. Long time no see. Am ridiculously pleased you are heading Kentwards. My boss lives near Sevenoaks so I will try to get you together with his family if/when you move - his 4 boys are slightly older than our DCs so his wife will probably have tons of advice on schools etc.

You do realise you will have to learn to drive, don't you? Down here in the sticks the weekends are choc full of horseriding/tennis/playdates etc (aye, we have to make us own entertainment) and I find that when I neglect all of this weekend stuff I drop completely out of the 'mum' network.

My fab male AP is probably going to be around for the summer and my live-out nanny is 25 so there is a social network round this way if your nanny wants to tap into it. We are around 20mins from the Maidstone jcts on the M20 so not that far from you time-wise. If you can I would keep one car as the 'AP-only' car rather than anticipate that one of the family cars will be hers. That way they don't feel as if they have to ask for permission to 'borrow' it and also you don't get bothered when they scratch it / leave it in a dodgy area without locking it etc etc.

Did you get the house?

waves at stillsquiffy

i haven't heard back from the agent since this morning! i am so stressed i think i will self combust! i offered c6% below the asking price.....i'm keeping everything crossed!
yeah, i know about the driving. the thing is, first thing in the morning, i will have to get a cab service to take me to the station because DH has a 1.5 hour later start than me -- and even if i knew how to drive, there is no way we would leave 2 cars at the station....i know, i know, more excuse not to learn how to drive!
i can't think straight till we get the house!!! oh pls keep fingers crossed
hope all well by the way - i haven't been to a meet up in a loooong time --so must catch up properly soon!

My MB gets a taxi to the station then I pick her up. Nice to have a chat about the day/kids then we talk about crap

just a quick update to say we lost out on the house (boo hoo hoo) -- even though we put in the highest bid, the vendor went with the next one as they were not in a chain and we are still trying to sell our london house (to be fair, we only put it on the market last week!). sooo , very sad news! Definitely going to be there in summer though as kids will be going to sevenoaks prep, but we might have to rent for a bit!

Nice to hear an update. Pity about the house - guess it just wasn't to be. Another house will be along in a while which you will probably like even better