Well, what can I say or add, after all the recent TV adverts about this forest adventure land, but I’ll give it a go. With six parcs and up to 400 acres of woodland situated throughout England and Ireland, focusing on short break staycations, surrounded in all of nature’s glory, full of laughter, fun and activities. A wonderland that caters for all ages, yes even your two-legged juvenile.
Hubby and I love Center Parcs, having taken our brood many times when they were young. It’s a place of wonder with pursuits such as golf, roller skating, segway, racquet sports to name but a few. Indoor ventures as well as outdoors include aerial zip wires, treetop climbs not forgetting the main reason for going – the subtropical swimming paradise, with slides, wave machine and pools. This year-round party caters for families, including your four-legged friend.
Along with eldest sprog, partner and two grandsons we booked for a long weekend (Friday to Monday) at Whinfell Forest in Cumbria. Check-in is staggered and always busy, it took us 40 minutes from turning off the main road to pick up our security pass wrist bands.
A winter lights display throughout the parc, welcomes one and all. The accommodation varies from woodland lodges, treehouses, hotel to apartments. The living quarters are well equipped, with outside table, chairs and BBQ pit. Although we found the beds and dining chairs uncomfortable, not to mention that our beds were on wheels on a hard floor, we ended up visiting parts of the room we didn’t expect. Our oven developed a problem resulting in having to be replaced, and we were offered a £50 voucher as compensation, the contractor and customer service were excellent.
Due to our lovely granddog Poppy coming along we were placed in the ‘doggie’ friendly lodges – which were situated towards the outer areas of the parc, resulting in a small trek to the centre, and more often than not taking in more of the parc than intended due to having no sense of direction – not that Poppy complained.
The village square is home to customer services, parcmarket (well stocked but pricey), activities, restaurants, The Hive (interactive game centre) and the swimming pool (take your own towels). Further along the forest, passing the lake with electric boats, admiring the brave souls using the aerial zip wire and passing under the tree top walks brings you to the sports plaza where squash, badminton, curling and many others are played.
You are encouraged to book for all leisure and sports events prior to starting your holiday, when we stayed in the 80’s and 90’s we would have to queue for ages to book our sports, so booking on line is much easier. The holiday isn’t cheap – be prepared for the extra costs per venture – some we thought quite pricey. The boys decided to have a take away pizza the night before vacating, thankfully our voucher came in handy, three pizzas and three small containers of loaded chips cost just over £60.
We had a lovely few days, I realised how unfit I am, when trying to educate the grandsons with the joys of badminton. It was a great weekend, full of families having fun, joggers everywhere putting me and hubby to shame. We are planning to visit again next Christmas, even though we felt the standards of the lodges were not the same as they used to be, but the range of activities available is amazing, with everything you can think of and more. I warn you though – book early. Have fun.
PS. Bear in mind the whole parc is ‘cashless’.