Nursery World - Uptown girl

Last month's Nannny Diaries tale of New York rang a bell for one former nanny in Sussex. Lindsey Blythe met her. Twenty-year-old Claire Fearon had been working as an au pair in New York for a year when a new opportunity came her way. 'I was chatting with the family's paediatrician and he mentioned that he knew a family who were desperate - their nanny had had an accident and there was no one to take care of their newborn baby. They were prepared to pay really well for someone who came recommended - and his recommendation was better than any reference in the world!'

Twenty-year-old Claire Fearon had been working as an au pair in New York for a year when a new opportunity came her way. 'I was chatting with the family's paediatrician and he mentioned that he knew a family who were desperate - their nanny had had an accident and there was no one to take care of their newborn baby. They were prepared to pay really well for someone who came recommended -and his recommendation was better than any reference in the world!'

Within days, Claire realised she had become the best paid nanny in Washington Square Park. The family lived in an enormous loft-style apartment of the kind you see in movies - split-level rooms, huge kitchen, full-length windows and an iron elevator that opened up into the living room.

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