Center Parcs Guinea Pig Article
Center Parcs is deemed as a desirable holiday for families, sports enthusiasts and groups of people. With all the hype going around about how great Center Parcs is and the value for money aspect, I thought that I would head down there with some friends and test out the waters, quite literally.
There are currently four main locations in the UK where you can visit Center Parcs for a luxury break. The four locations are Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire, Whinfell Forest in Penrith and Sherwood Forest in Rufford, Nottinghamshire. However coming soon there is going to be a fourth in Woburn, near Milton Keynes!
After securing five friends to accompany me on this venture, we all sat down to plan the trip. We originally planned to stay at Longleat Forest with plans to have a day trip to Longleat Safari Park, however it seemed fate was not smiling down on us as the safari park was in fact close on the week we planned to go so that put a spanner in the works of that plan.
After this original set back we ploughed on and found Elveden Forest was closer to our original location of Milton Keynes so we found our second location. The length of our stay was clinched in amatter of seconds when we realised that we could go Monday – Friday of any week in the foreseeable future. However Center Parcs also offer bookings for weekend stays, week long stays as well as special breaks available for pre-Christmas, Christmas, pre-New Year, New Year and post-New Year as well.
When it comes to choosing accommodation type Center Parcs has a wide variety of choices. In fact there are eight different types of accommodation for you to choose from depending on cost and circumstances.
The Comfort Villa: This is THE basic accommodation choice and the cheapest. For this choice you will receive an open plan kitchen, dining room and lounge area, a family bathroom and an external patio.
Comfort Plus: This is one up from the Comfort Villa and for this you get an external patio complete with BBQ area, A DVD player, a dishwasher, a supply of towels and a second TV located in the main bedroom.
New Style Woodland Lodge: If you choose to go with the New Style Lodge you will get Stylish new interiors and furnishings, a modern and fully equipped kitchen complete with dishwasher, a modern family bathroom, a DVD player and LCD TV and the BBQ Patio area.
Original Style Executive: If you can afford to stay in this accommodation you will receive an En-Suite Bath/Shower room however if you are staying at Whinfell then exceptions apply. You will also receive daily maid service which none of the previous choices come with. An LCD TV is supplied in each room with exceptions when staying at Elveden. You may be lucky enough to be blessed with a sauna where stated and you will also receive free WiFi.
New Style Executive Lodge: If you choose to upgrade to the New Style Executive Lodge you get an En-Suite Bath/Shower room regardless of location, a daily maid service, an LCD TV in each room regardless of location, a sauna where stated and free WiFi.
New Style Exclusive Lodge: For this accommodation you would have to stay at Longleat Forest or Elveden Forest. If you chose one of these you would get spa facilities which include a steam room, sauna and hot tub. A games room complete with a pool table, a private garden, Free WiFi, a daily maid service and En-Suite Shower/Bath room.
Treehouses: To stay within one of the treehouses you would have to stay at wither Longleat Forest or Sherwood Forest. If you are able to afford this accommodation then you would get an Infrared Physiotherm room and balcony hot tub, a games den with pool table, an En-suite Shower/Bath room, 4 bedrooms with balcony views, a daily maid service and free WiFi.
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| New Style Woodland Lodge |
After surveying all the options we all decided to go for the new style woodland lodge because it totalled £300 between six people! Bargain! Prices do vary depending on location and time of year.
The location of your accommodation is a choice you get to make, upon booking you can choose to pay to be located as close to the centre as possible or you can do what we did and leave it to chance. We chose to just pay for the accommodation and stay in whatever they had available at the time. By doing that we got a free upgrade and were only five minutes from the centre, so for us it paid off! I am not saying it will work that way all the time but sometimes it is a very fruitful split-second decision. You could end up a 40 minute walk from the centre!
When at Center Parcs you can choose to book activities that range from Golf to renting a Pedalo so we decided to book archery which cost £16 each and some bowling which came to £3.50 each. Not too bad as pricing goes. We also dipped into our funds for a round of Adventure Golf!
When we arrived at the accommodation one thing that is questionable is the fact you cannot access your accommodation until 3pm meaning an almost wasted first day. The upside to this however is that you have access to the rest of the site including free use of the swimming pool and all activities are available to book so if you get there early, you can park up and head on a tour of the facilities.
When accessing the accommodation for the first time we were somewhat underwhelmed with certain aspects and surprisingly pleased with others. The lodge itself is a nice size and ideal for six people to stay in. The living area is well equipped with a luxury TV and plenty of seating space and the bedrooms are nice sizes, one of the smaller twin bedrooms is a bit on the small side but that cannot be helped. The area where the accommodation fell down most was in the ‘fully equipped kitchen’. Now it is true that there was enough cutlery and enough plates and bowls etc but when it came to pans and tools to cook with, there could have been a few more utensils provided. The fridge freezer is a bit on the small side however and for six people for a five day stay it is a little preposterous to assume that they would be willing to go shopping each day to buy supplies. We bought enough food to last us the four days but struggled to fit more than two pizza’s in the freezer compartment and with the three shelf fridge. There was however plenty of cupboard space and drawer space.
One thing that I find quite odd in a holiday village is that Center Parcs provide you with your first two toilet rolls, but after that you’re on your own. In most places I have read about/experienced they give you at least a week’s supply or somewhere you can go to get some more but not in this venue. Here you are expected to buy some more when you run out, which seemed baffling to me!
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| A small part of the swimming facilities |
One bonus to a Center Parcs holiday and a massive positive on their behalf is their absolutely amazing swimming pool facilities. I am used to a pretty basic school swimming pool so having my eyes opened to a fabulous area like that was spectacular! Not only does it look like a tropical paradise but the swimming pool has many areas and facilities that help make the whole set-up great. There are numerous shower cubicles both private and open plan to suit your preference and there are hundreds of lockers to store all of your space.
The main pool is decked out with chairs to hold your towels and areas with tables to sit around as well as a place you can purchase drinks from when you just want a relaxing sit down. There is a whirlpool section which takes you in a loop with water jets pushing you around and provides fun for people all ages. Twice an hour in the main part of the pool there is a wave machine that provides waves for people to experience and if you head to the outside pool you will find the water to be a lot warmer. Once outside you will notice a shelf style seating area in the water for you to sit in as jets gently massage your back. You also have access to a plunge pool where the temperature ranges from 12 degrees to -16 degrees, this is only for the brave and very very warm blooded people, trust me I couldn’t last with my hand in there for longer than ten seconds at a time! Don’t forget access to a salt pool and two hot tubs!
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| Rapids! |
To top it off, they had rapids, human rapids, you slide down on your bottom, or your front, whichever way you feel more comfortable, and you go down a series of slides until you get half way. When you are half way there is an area where you can take a breather before going into the slides that have powerful jets forcing you very fast down the chutes until you end up landing in a pool not even a metre high.
So all in all, 10/10 for the swimming pool facilities!
If you are short of cash and just want a silly night out the Sports Plaza puts on a FREE Disco for both kids and adults. The kids’ disco runs daily from 6pm – 9pm and the adults’ disco runs from 9pm – midnight. The bar near the venue does some amazing kids cocktails and mocktails as well as a wide variety of milkshakes including Kiwi and peach flavour, all for £2.95 so they are wonderful if you just want to kick back and relax.
If you are feeling adventurous there are numerous sports activities including Badminton, Pedalo driving, archery and much much more! If you have infinite amounts of money then filling time will not be hard for you, if you want a cheaper option, we spent the majority of the time in the pool, as well as having a £4.50 game of Adventure golf at a group booking discount and that was fun!
We took part in an archery lesson and it was very educational. It costs £16 per person for an hours training.
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| Elveden Forest Target Archery |
You get put in pairs and work on an archery board between you starting from the furthest point and work your way forward learning the techniques needed to hit the gold target, or at least the red!
If you are a person who enjoys long walks in the countryside then you have to take a trip to Center Parcs. There are lovely trails to walk around until you can walk no more.
One thing that seemed interesting to us as customers of Center Parcs besides the toilet roll supplies, was whilst we were in the swimming pool, we noticed signs up saying that there was a water shortage and that water bottles would be distributed to all forms of accommodation in the meantime. Later on that night we saw another poster stating that the water is not contaminated but it would be better to drink the water from the bottles provided rather than drink the tap water. Spare bottles were available from the Center shop should people need more which was amusing because the shop closed at 7pm that night…
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| This telephone box was the only reason we remembered how to get home! |
One issue we had though was that we got lost on the way back from the centre to the lodge because they all look the same. We were staying in Maple, in room 500 or something, but because it was dark when we left the centre we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because we ended up making a five minute walk last over an hour and had to walk from Maple 800 to 500, it was not fun! However the next morning we found a route that took 5 minutes and we stuck to it. We wrote it in the map and never strayed from it again.
One part of the holiday that I adored because of my love of wildlife was the patio area we had in our accommodation. Each morning we had two squirrels, three ducks and a robin on out patio smiling through the windows at us. We all had a weak spot for these animals and put bread and biscuits out for them daily. It was the highlight of my holiday to watch a duck eat popcorn and a squirrel jump onto the table and take a full biscuit away in his mouth!
So, a holiday for six people at £70 minus food, was it worth the money?
I would say yes. Regardless of the minor issues we found in our holiday the accommodation is nearly top notch, the facilities are fantastic and the food and drinks are well priced for the most part. There is a wide variety of activities to suit sporty people, families and couples who just want a break and the prices of these activities are reasonable.
A holiday is what you make of it and regardless of what you’re into, you can make a perfect holiday even if you are stuck at home.
After this experience I understand what people see in Center Parcs holidays and I really do recommend it, even for the swimming pool facilities alone!
I thoroughly enjoyed the holiday and urge anyone who wants a holiday in the UK to consider Center Parcs as their choice location.
If you would like any additional information or would like to make abooking then head to the Center Parcs webste: http://www.centerparcs.co.uk
Also if you would like more information on the progress of Woburn Center Parcs, please visit this website: http://www.centerparcs.co.uk/discover/archived_news/woburn_planning.jsp
