We are fortunate to have a fantastic staff team here at Secret Garden which form part of our wider community. A community of friends, families, children, directors, staff and volunteers. Everyone contributes and everyone is valued.
If you would like to read more about being involved with the nursery in some way then please head over to our Get Involved page.
Kim Dicker – Administration Manager
Kim grew up in Cupar before emigrating to New Zealand, where she remained for ten years. During this time her love of the outdoors intensified against a backdrop of stunning mountains, glaciers, lakes, rainforests and deserts. While in New Zealand, Kim gained a PhD in history, the mother of all administrative challenges, and she now enjoys turning those skills to the running of our office (which she secretly wishes was in a tree-house in the woods). Kim is a keen grower, forager and fanatical maker of preserves. Having happily resettled in Fife, she loves exploring the beautiful local countryside with her family, their faithful old picnic blanket, and a foraging basket…just in case.
Teresa Widd – Finance Manager
Teresa spent many years working in Finance before re training as a gardener and Horticulture Therapist working with children and young adults with complex additional needs, mainly in outdoor settings. Moving to Scotland four years ago has provided the ideal opportunity to enjoy all that Fife has to offer; views of the Lomond hills from my home, beachcombing along the different beaches, many varied walks, foraging in the hedgerows and tasting the local produce. I have always been passionate about caring for the environment and living with nature and am a massive fan of recycling, making quilts, rag rugs and other items from pre loved textiles. I also enjoy growing my own fruit, veg and flowers, making jams and preserves, baking with the local baking club and keeping chickens
Kathryn Webster – Care Manager
Kath has always had a love of nature and can remember spending time in the woods or out on the sandy links golf courses of Gullane with her Dad as a child. This love of the outdoors has never left her and she finds it deeply engrained within her being. Kath grew up in East Lothian mainly and went to Edinburgh University to study Geography – after a time of managing bars she felt a restlessness and took a step into volunteering for the local conservation group. She then went on to run seasonal holidays for a charity in Scotland, working in some of the most beautiful areas with some great people, and naturally progressed on to becoming a project officer. The move into conservation work inspired her to gain an HNC in Countryside Management and then six months was spent as a countryside ranger. This was a real inspiration for her to work with young people in nature – spending time in the woods with children and watching them discover beasties and seasons and all manner of things, helped to reawaken her memories of playing and just ‘being’ in nature. Kath is a qualified Forest School Leader who believes nature is inspiring and exciting and she feels it is wonderful and important for children to experience this for themselves. She also has a SVQ3 Social Services, Children and Young People qualification and is working towards her PDA in Childhood Practice.
Sarah-Jane Latto – Assistant Care Manager
Sarah is a local lass and her family home is in the nursery’s neighbouring village, Collessie. Her earliest childhood memory is of collecting the wiggly worms that she found in the field while tattie picking on her great aunts farm. Sarah believes that it is because of this memory (and many like it) that she has developed a passion for the natural world. Sarah studied Ecology at the University of Edinburgh and afterwards worked as Education Manager at Aigas Field Centre in the Scottish Highlands – enjoying engaging with children of all ages. In 2013 she completed a MSc in Outdoor Environmental and Sustainability Education at the University of Edinburgh and through that course discovered the wonders of the early years! Since then she has worked for Wild Sparks Outdoor Play and now the Secret Garden. In her spare time Sarah enjoys walking along the beach, baking cakes and visiting new places. She is working towards her SVQ3 Play work qualification.
Louise Durrant – Senior Practitioner
Louise has been inspired by and supportive of the Secret Garden since its beginnings, which coincided with her initiation into motherhood. Louise has two young children, and her eldest daughter has grown through three joyful and play-filled years of Secret Garden. Since becoming a mother Louise has been fascinated by the way we parent and educate our children. She has facilitated a course focusing on mindfulness, creativity and supportive self-reflection for parents (“Adventures in Parenting”) and her children are currently home-educated. Being outdoors in nature is a central daily practice keeping her and her children connected, alive and inspired, and deeply nourished. Louise previously worked as a practitioner of homeopathy with adults and children. She brings her experience of mindfulness into the woods in her aspiration to be an aware and mindful practitioner: looking deeply and listening with attention and compassion.
Naomi Ellis-Morton – Practitioner
Naomi has a background in Design and Art Therapy, she also enjoys being outdoors and the inspiration nature brings. Having been one of the first Secret Garden Directors and seeing her own children thrive at the nursery she finds it very fulfilling to be a permanent member of staff and share in the unique experience the children have.
Andrea Habeshaw – Practitioner
Andrea has a background in communications and the environmental sector. She has two children of her own, both attended The Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery. Andrea grew up in a small village in Kent where she developed a love of climbing trees and reading books while hiding out in them. She has lived in New Zealand, Australia, the West Midlands and the Scottish Highlands. She has lived in Fife for the past decade. Andrea loves being in the outdoors and is a keen hillwalker and gardener.
Mairi Wallace – Sessional Practitioner
Having spent several years running a cinema, Mairi changed direction and worked for a year, part-time, with the Secret Garden and now enjoys working as supply when needed. She does this along with working as a gardener and a massage therapist. She is Mum to three gorgeous girls, likes to grow very big unusual plants in her back garden in Dundee and can give a really good back and neck massage!
Jane Garven – Sessional Practitioner
Jane has lived in Edinburgh for nearly all her life. She will always be grateful to her parents for sharing their love of the natural world on walks and adventures in East Lothian, Fife and Galloway. After an initial degree in Drama from Exeter University, Jane has worked as a performer, workshop leader and college lecturer, before re-training in Primary Education and discovering the joys of Early Years. As class teacher at Cowgate under 5s Centre in Edinburgh for eight years, she trained as a Forest School leader and started taking her practice outside. Jane is a part-time student on the Masters Programme in Outdoor Environmental and Sustainability Education at the University of Edinburgh. She continues to explore mindfulness in education, particularly valuing children’s unhurried play in nature. Jane enjoys long walks, swimming and sea kayaking and spending lots of time developing her own connection to nature with like-minded folk.
Chloe Wells – Sessional Practitioner
Chloe is a Forest School Leader who loves to see people benefitting from being amongst nature. In the past she led volunteers on conservation projects in Central and South America as well as the sunny UK, and has a Masters degree in Leadership for Sustainable Development. She likes to work with early years to witness the magical way in which children discover and explore the natural world for themselves. Chloe always enjoys spending time at the Secret Garden; she loves their way of doing things, the ethos, the community and the space. When she is not at the Secret Garden, Chloe runs her own Forest Schools’ sessions and is a mother to two young girls.
Anna Kinross – Sessional Practitioner
As well as being a Secret Garden woods practitioner Anna is also a Secret Garden parent! She has two beautiful children, one who currently attends the nursery and Anna is home educating her eldest. When not working or playing in the woods Anna is a keen gardner and food grower – she helps organise the nursery garden for us. Anna has an interest in plant medicine and loves to spend time outside (with and without children). She also works as a feltmaker and has made some beautiful pieces including a forest scene wall-hanging which is currently on display in our Cupar office.
