No two days are ever quite the same — and that’s rather the point.

Children spend their days outdoors building dens, climbing trees, lighting fires, crafting, whittling, exploring the woods, inventing games, making friends, getting muddy, and generally rediscovering the sort of childhood that seems increasingly rare.

There is structure and guidance from staff throughout the day, but we also leave plenty of room for free play, imagination, and genuine adventure.

We accept a limited number of Reception-aged children, but only where we feel the environment is likely to be the right fit for them. Our sessions are not truly aimed at this age group.

Our days are busy, highly active, and predominantly outdoors. Children walk considerable distances around the site, manage their own belongings, cope with changing weather conditions, and navigate a fairly free-flowing social environment with children of mixed ages.

For that reason, Reception-aged children do need to be reasonably capable and independent for their age. They must also be fully toilet trained and able to manage toileting independently while on site.

Some younger children absolutely thrive in this kind of setting and rise to the adventure remarkably well. Others understandably find the pace, stimulation, and independence quite overwhelming by the end of the day.

We always encourage parents to reflect carefully — not simply on age, but on whether their child is emotionally and physically ready for a full day of outdoor adventure with relatively high levels of independence.

If you are unsure, we are always very happy to have an honest conversation beforehand.

Our sessions run from 9:00am until 3:00pm.

To help make arrival smoother for families, we offer a 15-minute drop-off window before the session begins, so families may arrive from 8:45am onwards. We do ask that children are collected promptly at the end of the day and that families avoid arriving late wherever possible.

Because we are an outdoor site rather than a conventional indoor childcare setting, timings matter more than they sometimes do elsewhere. Once activities and group adventures are underway, late arrivals can be quite disruptive both for the child arriving and for the wider group.

Children are signed in and out by a member of staff, and we always encourage a calm, confident goodbye at drop-off. In our experience, children generally settle far more quickly once the transition has happened and they become immersed in the environment and activities around them.

At pick-up, children are often tired, muddy, smoky, happy, and full of stories. We try to share important information from the day where needed, though on particularly busy days this may sometimes be brief while we safely manage the wider collection process.

Children should bring:

• A packed lunch
• Plenty of water
• Weather-appropriate clothing
• Waterproofs and spare clothes
• Suitable footwear such as wellies or boots

Children should not bring:

• Nut products
• Phones or electronic devices
• Valuable items
• Toys from home

No — phones, smart watches with recording capability, tablets, cameras, and other recording devices are not permitted on site.

There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, safeguarding. In a setting where children are climbing, changing clothes, playing freely, and interacting naturally with one another, we take privacy and safeguarding extremely seriously. Preventing unauthorised photography, filming, audio recording, messaging, and social media use helps us maintain a safer environment for all children on site.

Secondly — and perhaps just as importantly — children benefit enormously from being temporarily disconnected from technology.

Something rather lovely happens when phones disappear. Children become more present, more imaginative, more sociable, and far more engaged with the world immediately around them. Games become more inventive. Conversations become more natural. Attention spans improve. Friendships tend to form much faster.

Many parents tell us they are amazed at how little their children miss their devices once they are immersed in building dens, climbing trees, making fires, exploring woodland, and simply being part of the group.

For many children, it is one of the few places left where they can properly switch off from screens and reconnect with real-world adventure.

We never exceed a staffing ratio of around 1:8, although this is generally a lot smaller depending on the age and needs of the group on any given day.

All of our staff are trained educators or highly experienced in working with children outdoors. Just as importantly, they are people who genuinely enjoy spending time with children — encouraging adventure, building confidence, supporting friendships, and helping children feel safe and valued within the group.

We intentionally keep our numbers relatively small compared to many large-scale holiday club providers. This helps preserve the atmosphere of the club and allows staff to properly know the children in their care, rather than simply supervising large groups.

The result is something that feels far more personal, calm, and connected than many conventional childcare settings. Children tend to become part of the wider tribe very quickly, and staff are able to notice the quieter moments too — the child lacking confidence, the friendship beginning to form, or the child who simply needs a little encouragement to join in.

While our ratios are lower than some traditional indoor childcare settings, the environment also encourages a greater degree of independence, responsibility, and self-confidence in the children attending.

We operate in all but the most extreme weather conditions.

In truth, some of our best days happen in rain, frost, wind, and mud. Children tend to become more imaginative, resilient, adventurous, and collaborative when the weather is less than perfect.

Because of the nature of our site and facilities, we are often able to cope with weather conditions that would force many other outdoor or forest school provisions to cancel. We have sheltered spaces, woodland cover, fires, and flexible activity areas that allow us to adapt safely to changing conditions throughout the day.

That said, safety always comes first. In genuinely dangerous or extreme weather — such as severe high winds or major weather warnings — sessions may occasionally need to be adjusted or cancelled.

Children should always arrive expecting a proper outdoor adventure, whatever the forecast.

Yes — safety is something we take extremely seriously.

That said, we also believe childhood should contain a degree of managed risk. Climbing trees, using tools, building fires, navigating woodland, and testing physical limits are all important parts of children learning confidence, resilience, judgement, and self-awareness.

All activities are carefully risk assessed and supervised by experienced staff. Children are taught how to use tools safely, behave responsibly around fires, assess risks for themselves, and look after one another while on site.

Of course, in an outdoor environment involving active play, minor accidents can and do occasionally happen — bumps, scrapes, trips, splinters, and muddy tumbles are all part of adventurous outdoor childhood. Thankfully, more significant incidents are extremely rare.

In many ways, children often become safer over time through these experiences because they learn how to assess risk properly rather than being removed from it entirely.

We find children are often far more capable than adults sometimes expect when they are trusted, guided, and given meaningful responsibility.

No — parents are not able to remain on site during sessions.

Partly, this is for safeguarding reasons. Managing who is present on site is an important part of maintaining a safe environment for all children, particularly within a busy outdoor setting where children are moving freely around the site.

It is also important for the social dynamic of the group. In our experience, children almost always settle more successfully once a calm and confident goodbye has happened. Remaining on site can often make the transition harder rather than easier.

More broadly, the nature of our environment requires children to be able to cope with a reasonable degree of independence throughout the day. If a child requires ongoing 1:1 parental support in order to participate comfortably or safely, then we are unlikely to be the right environment for them.

We do welcome many children with additional needs and, for some children, the freedom, movement, outdoor environment, and less formal social structure of our setting can work remarkably well.

That said, we are not a specialist SEND provision and it is important that families understand the nature of our environment before booking.

Our days are busy, active, noisy at times, physically demanding, and fairly free-flowing. Children move around a large outdoor site, mix with different age groups, manage changing weather conditions, and are expected to cope with a reasonable degree of independence throughout the day.

Because of this, children who require consistent 1:1 support, close supervision at all times, or highly structured environments may find our setting difficult. Equally, behaviours that place themselves, other children, animals, or staff at risk can be extremely challenging to safely manage in an outdoor environment.

However, we also know that diagnoses alone tell us very little about a child. We regularly welcome children with a wide range of additional needs who settle beautifully, make friends, build confidence, and absolutely thrive with us.

The most important thing is honesty and open communication beforehand. We would always rather have a thoughtful conversation in advance so that, together, we can decide whether the environment is likely to lead to a positive, successful, and enjoyable experience for your child.

This is extremely common, particularly for first-time attendees.

In our experience, most nerves disappear surprisingly quickly once children become immersed in the environment and begin engaging with activities and other children.

Our staff are very experienced at helping children settle gently and naturally without forcing interaction or drawing unnecessary attention to anxieties.

We do ask parents to trust the process a little. Children often cope far better once a calm, confident goodbye has happened.

We are very happy to discuss medical needs beforehand and will always do our best to accommodate children safely where possible.

However, because we are a highly outdoor and physically active environment, it is important that families communicate openly with us about anything that may affect a child’s safety, wellbeing, or ability to participate comfortably.