Adventure Valley Day Nursery & Pre-School

Daily animal encounters, a woodland reserved for nursery use and gardens reached directly from the rooms give Adventure Valley Day Nursery & Pre-School a clear countryside identity. At Union Hall Farm in Brasside, Durham, the farm is part of the childcare day rather than an occasional destination. Children can handle practical experiences alongside indoor play, with supervised visits to Adventure Valley included in their fees.

The nursery accepts children aged 2 months to 5 years. At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged it Good overall, found safeguarding effective and described effective additional support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including visual prompts and signing. That is a dated judgement. Later regulatory findings about supervision and accident procedures also matter to the decision.

Full-day, morning, afternoon and funded half-day patterns require at least two sessions each week. Everyday animal encounters are the draw; supervision between outdoor spaces deserves close attention.

Rooms and Ages

Babies have purpose-built Baby and Pre-Toddler Rooms, where sensory exploration combines touch, movement, colour and sound, plus a dedicated garden area and visits to the animals. This gives the youngest children outdoor experiences alongside their indoor play, while their feeding, sleep and changing routines are intended to follow those used at home.

From 24 to 36 months, the Toddler Room uses more structured play for early maths, language, creative activities and stories, across indoor spaces, the garden and supervised Adventure Valley visits. Potty training is coordinated with parents.

Mini Farmers (Pre-School), for children aged 3 to 5 years, combines indoor spaces with animal feeding, seed planting and preparing feed outdoors. Shared farm tasks give children practical experiences to discuss.

Learning and Activities

Teaching follows the EYFS: children learn through play, with activities supporting communication, early maths, physical development and growing independence. Planning in the Moment adds a teaching approach in which practitioners use a child's activity or chosen toy as an opportunity to extend learning. The practical distinction is responsiveness: staff can develop the play already happening rather than relying only on a predetermined activity.

The play and education page describes daily Adventure Valley visits that can include petting animals, a tractor-and-trailer ride and play on the pirate ship. Alongside the private gardens, these give children different settings for movement and imaginative play. A private woodland is reserved for nursery use, extending the outdoor offer beyond the farmyard.

In March 2022, a bus ride extended transport learning, while firefighters brought a fire engine after children had played at tackling fires. Real experiences gave those play themes substance.

In March 2022, babies explored lemon slices and fruity tea bags in water, while older children counted and shared equipment. Sensory exploration and practical problem-solving both featured in play.

Relationships and Communication

In March 2022, staff knew their key children's interests, abilities and preferences, and children sought comfort with adults during stories and play. Individual relationships shaped settling.

Current baby care aims to match home patterns for feeds, sleep and nappy changes. Formula is supplied without an additional charge, alongside nappies and wipes. Toddlers' potty training is also coordinated with home, giving parents a practical link between the routines used in each place.

Written dietary and allergy information forms part of the care arrangements. Meals are cooked at the nursery, with breakfast, lunch and dinner planned by a nutritionist on a six-week rotation; special dietary requirements are catered for. Children are encouraged to serve food and pour drinks with practitioner support, making mealtimes another opportunity to practise doing things for themselves.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The positive March 2022 judgement sits alongside two improvement priorities from that visit: paperwork sometimes drew practitioners away from interaction with children, and support for newer or less-experienced staff needed to be more thoroughly established. These are relevant to everyday care. Attractive activities depend on adults having time to notice, respond and help.

Later supervision findings deserve attention too: Ofsted recorded remedial action following its 10 June 2025 visit, involving transition risk assessments and staff deployment, and its 3 October 2025 telephone call, when an inappropriate response to an accident and injury led to staff revisiting accident procedures and supervision arrangements. Both documents record action taken to put matters right. Their repeated attention to deployment makes the organisation of movement between spaces a useful subject for a visit.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day paid care runs from 7.30am to 6pm; morning sessions run from 7.30am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. Funded full days have two patterns, 7.30am to 5.30pm or 8am to 6pm, while funded half days run from 7.30am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. The funded and paid full-day windows therefore need to be distinguished when planning a working day.

Attendance must cover at least two sessions per week, which can be a full day plus a half day. Session swaps are not allowed, although additional sessions may be booked on an ad hoc basis subject to room availability. This suits a regular weekly arrangement better than a booking that needs frequent exchanges between days.

Care operates across the year. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day are closures, while Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve finish at 4pm when they fall on weekdays, with normal fees still payable. Booked holiday absences remain chargeable, as do bank holidays on which a child would normally attend. These terms matter when comparing the cost of a regular pattern rather than simply its daily hours.

Getting There

The address is Union Hall Farm, Brasside, Durham, DH1 5SG. The 62 Arriva Bus runs directly to Adventure Valley, giving families a public transport option for this countryside setting.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0191 384 5540 or by email to admin@adventurevalleydaynursery.co.uk. An online form also accepts interest in a personal showround, including out-of-hours tours on weekdays.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted for children aged 9 months and for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, including the 30-hour scheme. Funding is spread across 52 weeks; parents must obtain a funding code and establish eligibility. Private fee-paying hours are also offered, so the written quotation should distinguish those hours from funded attendance.

Paid fees include meals, snacks and milk, together with nappies, wipes and creams. The funding calculator includes an Enrichment Fee in its estimate, while the baby offer states that the 9-month government grant carries no additional fees. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the fees page providing the route to a tailored quote.

• Supervision between spaces. The June and October 2025 findings both involved staff deployment, with the later event also addressing accident procedures. During a showround, ask how adults supervise garden access, farm visits and transitions, and how an accident is communicated to parents.
• The end of the day. Opening hours differ: one account ends at 6pm and another at 6.30pm, while the funded full-day patterns have their own finishing times. Establish the contracted collection time for your chosen pattern before arranging work around it.
• Funded extras. Funding is stretched over 52 weeks, the calculator includes enrichment charges, and the 9-month grant offer has a separate no-additional-fees statement. Ask for an itemised quotation separating funded hours, private hours, meals, consumables and enrichment for your child's age and sessions.
• Dietary arrangements. Special diets are catered for and written allergy information is required. If your child has an allergy, confirm the current preparation and serving arrangements before starting.

Adventure Valley suits families who want farm experiences woven into childcare, whether they choose full days, mornings, afternoons or a mixture of full and half days. Animal feeding, planting and gardens give its outdoor offer substance. Planning in the Moment provides a clear explanation of how staff can build learning around children's play.

The decision should also give weight to supervision. A Good judgement from March 2022 is useful context, but the later deployment and accident findings make current practice during transitions a central consideration. For families comfortable with a regular weekly pattern and clear contracted hours, this is a countryside option with much more to its day than indoor nursery activities alone.