Nice, but not what expected! (Center Parcs)

Member Name: melliej

Product:	Center Parcs
Date:	09/07/03 (1176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The peaceful forest, The well equipped chalet, The fantastic pool

Disadvantages: Expensive for a five day/four night holiday, Too orderley, not natural enough, Very busy

We went to Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest in May 2003 for a Monday to Friday break. 'We' include myself, hubby, and three young children, aged 8, 3, and 1. We arrived in the rain (and left in the rain too!) and finally found ourselves a carspace, it was manic! no-one had warned us of roadrage in CenterParcs! The problem being that all the 'weekenders didn't leave until the afternoon, and we had got there in the morning, making a shortfall of spaces available. This however did sort itself out later in the afternoon, when the weekenders finally left!
We had booked a 'two bed comfort villa', which admittedly shocked me when I first saw it, it was like a hi-de-hi chalet! I had naively expected a log cabin. But never mind, once inside I had no gripes, everything was there that I could want, from cot, highchair, underfloor heating (nice!), microwave, and comfy bed. The three children all shared a room, and it was spacious enough for the few days that we were there. The patio doors faced onto woodland, and throughout our stay we were greeted by a constant supply of squirrels, ducks, swans, signets, rabbits, and birds, which the children thought was great. The only problem was that every time we opened the door, the squirrels took it as a signal to come in!
The pool was 'fab' (8 year old's words), and we all enjoyed it there. The rapids were 'ace' (my words!), and despite a friction-burnt bum from them, I couldn't stay off them! The three year old went on the rapids on dads knee, and the baby pottered in the shallow pirate toddler pool complete with slides and sand. I wasn't brave enough to try the cold plunge pool, the screams of others were enough! A lovely treat though, was to swim outdoors in the dusk, in a warm pool, with steam rising from it! Heaven!
Restaurants/cafe's were nice, but not cheap, but the on site shop provided everything you could need from tomato sauce, to cakes, to frozen pizza (a tip,
don't leave it too late on the first day to stock up! It was like the first day of the Harrods sale!).
The site provided good playgrounds for the children, including one on a sandy beach. We were lucky and positioned in the centre of the village, so were at the pool, shops etc within a minute. We didn't hire bikes, even though everyone had told us we would need to, but just walked eveywhere which was no big deal.
My son aged 8 took part in the Soccer camp, which was everday for a couple of hours, booked in advance, which he enjoyed immensely, and we enjoyed a cappachino at the 'Jardin De Sports' leisure centre, while baby son slept, andmiddle son played in the free soft play, which could be observed by tv. The leisure facilities were excellent, but we found it difficult to participate with two little ones, and chilcare was expensive. It would be better to go when they were older.
What was I let down by? Well, I thought it might be a bit more rugged, and 'off the beaten track' so to speak, but everything was sooooo orderley, and man-made looking, even the lake was man-made. People walked on man-made tracks, and cycled on man-made roads, and they all followed sign posts to their destinations! The best bit was the forest, which was natural (all but the man-made track though the middle of it), but surprisingly every time we went into it, we never saw another soul! I pressume they were all walking the man-made footpaths. Rather odd really, considering it was Sherwood Forest..

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