We celebrated Snapdragons’ 25th anniversary this year with a fabulous weekend festival on the outskirts of Bath. The festival was laid on as a huge “thank you” for the whole staff team, who enjoyed a laid-back weekend of food, drink, friends, games and entertainment at Field Good Bar.

Snapdragons Nursery was started in 1998 by Rosemary and Paul Collard from their farmhouse home in Atworth, Wiltshire, and, 25 years later, they are still very much involved in the business. The success of the Atworth nursery inspired them to expand and offer their brand of education and care to more children and families.

Rosemary says she had no plan to grow the company: “When we started, I never dreamt that 25 years later we’d be where we are. I was teaching in Melksham and Paul’s job with British Airways involved a lot of travel. With four young children, the logistics were daunting to say the least. Full daycare was relatively new and there was little provision to help working families, so the seed of an idea formed and we opened our Atworth nursery in our own home. The first two children to test it were my youngest daughter Izzy and her cousin! Some of our staff are still with us from those early days, so it really does feel like a family. The festival was a chance to show our amazing teams how much we value their work.”

Forward to 2023 and there are now ten Snapdragons nurseries from Atworth and Corsham in Wiltshire, through Bath and Keynsham and into Bristol with 450 employees and close to 1,500 places for children. The Collards’ children, now adults of course, have joined the company and have key roles in Finance, IT and Education, while the four grandchildren have all attended the nurseries. A truly family affair!

Snapdragons is an Ofsted outstanding provider and has been recognised in the nursery sector with multiple awards. They have also established a reputation for their approach to healthy, ethical food and have held a Food For Life Gold Food Served Here Award from the Soil Association since 2012.

So, it may not have been a grand plan when the first nursery was opened in an Atworth family home in 1998, but Snapdragons has grown and we can all be proud of being part of it. Congratulations to Rosemary, Paul, James, Jen, Sophie and Izzy , and to all of our original and current staff, and all of our children and families past and present for 25 glorious years of Snapdragons. Here’s to another quarter century!!