On 6/8/08 11:39, in article , "stuart
noble" wrote:

snip
I think you need to cater for the whole family these days because they
shop as a unit. Tea rooms, toilets, and even nappy changing facilities
are essential services. As an old geyser I have left many such
establishments prematurely because there were no toilet facilities :-)


We have 3 loos in the Nursery and tea room area but we don't have baby
changing facilities, though when asked I've allowed people to use our
kitchen. We do have a high chair in the tea room but actual changing
facilities would mean a completely newly built loo and that will cost quite
a lot as it will be for disabled use, too. Eventually, that is part of a
longer term project, though. However, most of our customers are middle-aged
to elderly and don't really need all the clobber that goes with babies. My
daughter and daughter in law have small portable changing mats that go in
their 'yummu mummy' bags, along with spare nappies, wipes and dirty nappy
bags.
This is very much a Nursery with a tea room, not a garden centre with a
shopping and play area, so it's not a 'family day out' in that sense, though
people often do spend the day here and even fall asleep! We have noticed,
however, that we get a lot more young families coming in now than we used
to. I don't know if that's because gardening programmes appeal to them or
whether it's because they can enjoy the garden for free and get tea as well,
and they'd want refreshments wherever they went, I should think. Children
love the garden because it's about 3 acres with lots of paths they can play
hide and seek through and 'get lost' in but quite safely once they're past
the toddler stage. Often, I've distracted a fractious child by taking it
and a parent to feed the fish - they love watching them surge to the surface
in a feeding frenzy! And on several occasions I've supplied towels to
soaked toddlers who've been picking up the pebbles from the granite water
trough and hurling them back in, or putting their fingers in the water spout
and squirting water all over themselves!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon