A CHILDREN’S garden is being created at a Musselburgh nursery – thanks to a gift of 80 tonnes of soil excavated during the construction of a new secondary school in Edinburgh.

Almond Park Children’s Nursery, based in the former St Ninian’s Church, took the delivery from the new Portobello High School site in Edinburgh, with the help of Balfour Beatty Construction.

Staff said youngsters at the nursery were “thrilled and excited” when the soil arrived, with one describing it as “the best day of my life”.

Lynn Muir, director of operations at the nursery, said: “We have been working on a project to allow our preschool children direct access to the garden and this fitted the bill perfectly.

“When we heard that Balfour Beatty were looking to donate topsoil to local organisations as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, we jumped at the chance.

“The looks on the children’s faces when they saw the trucks and the soil being offloaded were priceless. They absolutely loved being involved and can’t wait for our welly day to stomp the soil into place.”

The company also arranged for a joiner to take down the fence and reinstate it after their trucks delivered the soil.

The nursery, which has about 80 children, opened in July 2014.

Staff have been developing the area around the old St Ninian’s Church building to provide outdoor education opportunities for the children, including an outdoor classroom, mud kitchen, planting area, sand pit, sensory play area and art area.

Andy Gove, of Balfour Beatty Construction, said: “When we heard about Almond Park and their garden project, we were only too happy to help.

“Moving the 80 tonnes of soil allowed us to put it to a good use.”