Secondary school teacher Sarah Karkeek was so concerned at the prospect of the closure of the creche caring for her son that she and her husband Robin bought it.
Fifteen years later, they have expanded from that small nursery in Newquay to become an award-winning company, and one of the largest childcare providers in the south-west.
'Sarah was a senior teacher within the school management team when we heard that the creche at the school caring for our son Sam was closing,' says Mr Karkeek, who himself worked as a civil engineer.
'We carried on as we were for a year or two, and then came Ofsted with its increased levels of scrutiny. We realised that we had to expand to cope with the additional statutory requirements and documentation. So I went part time and started looking for sites. Once we got the second one, it all just developed from there.'
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