North-East Business

Adventure Valley is at at Union Hall Farm, near Durham City

8:43am Monday 22nd March 2010

A RURAL business has received funding towards a £1m children’s adventure attraction.

Adventure Valley at Union Hall Farm, near Durham City, will create at least 15 jobs and is expected to attract more than 30,000 visitors a year, as well as increasing the numbers of visitors staying overnight in the area.

The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) has approved £200,000 towards the attraction via the Durham Business and Community Assets fund, managed by Durham County Council for development agency One North East.

The farm, just south of Finchale Priory, is currently an arable farm with a horse livery. The new attraction will open soon.

Adventure Valley will include five zones, including the Indoor PlayTown (a large indoor play area), Action Creek, The FarmYard and more.

The site will also hold a car and coach park, as well as provide a venue for year-round educational activities for schools and colleges.

The project is the idea of managing director of Union Hall Farm Marco Calzini who, with his family – including his two children aged six and ten – have been planning and researching it for years.

He said: “As part of my research, we have visited numerous farm parks, theme parks and zoos in the UK and abroad to ensure we can create the best project possible to benefit local people and visitors to the area.”

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