A large Forest in the Heart of Wiltshire. (Center Parc Longleat Forest)

Member Name: CokaCola

Product:	Center Parc Longleat Forest
Date:	12/08/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice swimming Pool, Good scenery

Disadvantages: Boring, Expensive, British Weather.

I recently visited this place after being dragged by my girlfriend and her family. I must be honest, I don't really see the point in Center Parcs but then I'm a bit strange like that. This review ill not cover Center Parcs in general, but specifically my experiences at Longleat Forest.

Located near the famous Longleat Safari Park, Center Parcs Longleat Forest is based in Wiltshire UK and was appealing to our party because of it's proximity to where we live in South Wales. Upon arrival you are greated by a colourful sign on a brick wall which is illuminated into glory. There is quite a long drive in and the whole thing reminded me a little bit of Jurassic Park. eventually you will reach a little cabin where the staff with check you in and if it's after 10am, will provide you with your keys. You cannot enter the villa you have booked until 3pm, although aslong as you enter after the cleaners have done their thing, no one is really going to say anything.

The whole parc is based in a big forest and has walk ways and cycle tracks going around the entire "campus". The Villas are arranged in little pockets and are mapped according to the species of tree that exists in each little micro environment. There is Ash, Pine, Redwood etc to name a few. Undoubtedly the Plaza and the Jardin des sport are where all the action is at. The Plaza is a large conservatory type building which contains restaurants like "Hucks" the American place as well as shops - a sweet shop, a toy shop, a weird shop selling things like candles, ornamental bird cages and crystals and a shop selling some designer clothing, watches and sunglasses. The plaza also houses the swimming pool which is totally free and pretty much the only free activity there is to take part in. This is one of the disadvantages to Center Parcs - you don't get much included in the price you pay to go there and everything costs a lot extra. The Plaza also contains a fairly spacious supermarket called "The Parc Market". This is a "Nice" supermarket, a bit like a Tesco with all the cheap/value/less nice tasting foods taken out - all of the lovely junk brands and expensive products are found here.

The Jardin des Sport isa fair walk from the plaza, but you can get there by land train too. It has restaurants like the Indian "Rajinda Pradesh" and whilst the service at this particular restaurant was good, I thought the Coke was a bit flat and the curry was extremely oily. we played pool at the Jardin des sport - you can either rent a table for £6 an hour, or play the small pool tables which charge £1 per game.

There is a lovely little lake at Center Parcs, although it isn't too little. It is absoloutely crawling with fish and you can often see them jumping out, or feasting on something edible on the surface. There are also many clearly domestic ducks (although no big fluffy white ones) and some moorhens, many of which were trailing a brood of ducklings when I visited.

I mean the place wasn't a distaster, but after the first day it's a little bit boring and totally draining financially. I say if you're gonna take a holiday, you might as well see somewhere in the world where you may find your money goes further.

Summary: Not really my scene, but people do love it and return year after year.