Peace, Tranquility and kids (Center Parcs)

Member Name: MaryanneH

Product:	Center Parcs
Date:	18/06/04 (4762 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great family holiday

Disadvantages: Starting to get overcrouded

The bliss of swimming outdoors in warm water when the snow is on the ground, swimming outside at night looking up at the stars, lying relaxing in a sauna to smooth music - or conversely - Invigorating workouts, badminton, squash, tennis tournaments, Archery. All in a peaceful, car free holiday village. This is the Centerparcs experience and it has changed little over the past 15 years, during which I have been a regular visitor.

Centerparcs has 4 villages in the UK, Longleat (my personal favorite) Sherwood Forest, Elvden Forest and the most recent addition Oasis Whinfell Forest in the Lake District. Oasis is not an original Centerparcs and was bought out by them a few years ago, despite my love of the lakes, I have not yet visited this one as I have a gut feeling from reading other reviews that I will be disappointed. My review therefore excludes this particular village as it is not, in my opinion, a true Centerparcs. Visits are of a fixed duration with Weekends (Fri ? Mon), Midweek (Mon ? Fri) and Week (Fri ? Fri) Cost can vary greatly from £200 for a 1 bed basic apartment for a weekend in January to over £2000 for an executive family villa (8 people) for a week in August.

The main aim of Centerparcs is to provide a safe, natural environment for families, most people use bikes which can be hired to get around and cars are banned from the village, this is rigorously enforced in the UK, but there seem to be a lot of rebels in Europe. Cycling is fine,but there are some steep hills, especially in Longleat where there is a boardwalk to get from the sports centre to the main area and it is a challenge to make it in one go for my fitter mates, I usually use my children as an excuse to get off and push, I?ll be gutted when they grow up and I have to admit that I?m just unfit. It?s beautifully laid out though; it?s lined with Rhododendrons which look fantastic in spring and has great lighting at night. Longleat does have a little land train as it is

so spread out.

The main feature of all the Centerparcs is the swimming pool area; the whole village is centered around this. They are all beautifully laid out as a tropical paradise with trees surrounding a large wave pool in the centre of an undercover dome, so is always beautifully warm, Jacuzzis are dotted around the area, some are fairly secluded but it doesn?t take long for them to fill up with people. The kids area of the pool is very well planned with areas for babies and toddlers with small slides for them, then the juniors have slightly bigger ?tube slides? then for the big kids (ie adults) there are various fast slides and of course the main reason for visiting, the rapids. The rapids are the best part you go down a fast flowing river and down slides usually outside, so these are for good swimmers only and you are not allowed down with any jackets. In Europe the policy is much more relaxed and people were taking very small children down, but the current can get very strong and whilst the water is on the whole shallow, you are not always completely in control, but from a safety point of view, they are very well staffed with life guards down the rapids, and I wouldn?t want their job in winter standing outside, come rain, snow and ice.

Generally across all of the Centreparcs, certainly in the 5 that I have visited, outside the pool area is the main shopping area. To be honest, if we are staying in the UK I tend to shop before we go, as although the prices are fairly competitive they do have a monopoly and not the choice that you will be used to in your local Tescos, but you can get most things, it can get busy on moving in day but last time we went if you spent over £30 they would deliver to your villa for free, which means if you shop for the week (or just drink a lot) you can get it out of the way early.

Centerparcs has many activities on offer and as a mother the most important for me is how to fit it in around the ki
ds. T
hey offer a babysitting service, where they have appropriately checked out people come to your villa and look after the children. I can not remember the exact cost but it is a little more than you can expect to pay the teenager down the road, but reasonable. It also goes up after midnight, but everything closes well before then so unless you go off village that is not an issue. We have used this service twice once in the UK and once in Holland, both times in trepidation as I do not like leaving my kids with strangers, but on both occasions they were excellent, in the UK we had a ?granny type character? come along, who was happy to read with the girls for ages, I did feel sorry for her especially as Emily was going through a CATS phase and met her at the door with a book of TS Eliot poems (at the age of 5?) which they read together, if you use them during the day they will bring a box of toys with them. They also have a kindergarten which is the better option, It operates morning and afternoon and the cost is was £8.50 per session. This is one of the main things you must use the pre-booking form for as the places fill up fast but the kids have a great time cooking and face painting and you get a couple of hours free.

The most recent developments have been the upgrading of the Aqua Sana, this is the sauna area and they now have two saunas; a regular traditional one and a Finnish one which has dry heat and is a little cooler. There is a regular steam room and then a number of cool dark rooms with different themes like different scents and temperatures to relax in with soft music. The Aqua Sana promotes extremes of hot and cold so you have cold water plunge pools (usually voluntary, depending on your friends) and an ice room, again choose your friends wisely. There is a small out door swimming pool with bubbles which is very warm and great to lie out in and the best bit of all, loads of fire side chairs in which to do, well nothing, that?s what rela
xing is al
l about really isn?t it. The aqua Sana is expensive at £20 per session but worth it.

The badminton and squash tournaments are also well worth entering if you play, it gives you the chance to play other people especially if you are a family group and only one of you plays regularly. The standard can vary greatly each time, I have played badminton in clubs and a local league and sometimes you get beginners in the tournaments, often you get other good club players and on one occasion we came up against the Kent county team (and lost badly) so enter anyway its just a bit of fun, but beware, if you do play regularly take your own shuttles as they always use Carlton red plastics with the plastic base, so we take along our Yonex ones.

The European Centerparcs can also provide a good 'proper holiday' we went to Holland for a week which allowed for some sightseeing as well. It can also work out much cheaper for the school holidays even taking the ferry into account, we went May half term 5 years ago, like for like we would have paid £750 for a week in Longleat and we paid £450 + £150 on the Ferry. My only complaint with Holland is the music played around the centre - I wasn't expecting completely up to date stuff but they seemed to be playing everything that you are glad you haven't heard since the 70's and at one point even the theme music to Benny Hill!

Centerparcs in the UK is constantly expanding, there have been changes for the better over the last few years, you now check in with your car so don?t have to queue up with hundreds of people to get your keys, which was frankly just silly, but they still have the moving in traffic jam at 3pm on Fridays and Mondays when they lift the barrier from the car park and you can get your car down to the villa, take my advise, go for a swim and leave it a couple of hours, the pool is deserted and its much less stressful. On the downside, they have greatly increased the n
umber of Villas, including some really impressive executive
ones with balcony hot tubs and saunas, but they haven?t extended the facilities so there are more people in the pool and vying for the badminton courts etc. About a fortnight before you go you get a booklet with a pre-booking form and details of all the aerobics classes and activities available and what they cost. Every now and then they have specialist weekends organized, like a health and fitness one with Mr Motivator and a wine tasting weekend (know which I?d prefer, but I can?t see them cracking open the Chateau Lafitte, or Nuit St Georges!)

There is plenty of opportunity to eat out, from the basic burger bar to specialist Italian, French and American cuisine. None of it is particularly great and all of it is overpriced. That may seem a little harsh but they are permanently very busy and the quality has suffered, if Gordon Ramsay was present, no one would get fed! So we always tend to dine in, I also often take the slow cooker, it makes things really easy.

Centerparcs does provide a very good, easy short break, staying in your own villa backing onto a forest or a lake with wild life at your window. It can work out expensive if you do a lot of extra activities, which tend to cost the same as a local leisure centre, but the pool area is free and cooking facilities are adequate so you don't have to eat out. So if you fancy a visit, check out the website www.centerparcs.co.uk you can get availability and prices there and loads more info. If you do go I hope you have fun, my next visit is August so if you?re in Sherwood Forest then, don?t forget to say hi!

Thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments.

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