Children at Heddington Pre-school enjoyed splashing through muddy puddles during a sponsored welly walk in early March, which raised £400 to pay for outside equipment.

The children, aged two to four, took home forms and gained sponsorship from friends and family before taking part in the walk round the village over several days.

They needed £130 for a welly rack, but have managed to raise well over this and the extra money will go towards umbrellas and waterproofs for outdoor play.

Child care practitioner Tracey Smith said: “We’re really lucky to be in a rural environment, we have a lovely setting here, and there are so many benefits of outdoor play for the children. Being a charity-run preschool, budgets can be tight so we decided to fundraise.

“We want to thank our parents because we are ever so grateful for the funding and we were really overwhelmed with the response. We’re looking at spending the extra money on further resources. We want a collection of umbrellas so we can take the children out in the rain.”