Center Parcs is not somewhere I’ve ever been and I have to be honest, although I was very excited to take my baby on his first holiday, I was a little bit wary.
Aside from the awfully Americanised name (a personal pet peeve), I had visions of Center Parcs being a sort of fake forest theme park with cabins, capitalised nature rented out for overpriced stays – faux environmentalism meets family price gouging. But actually, I was wrong.
I was pleasantly surprised by Center Parcs – and I would go back again having had my first taste, with three key things in mind.
I booked four nights at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire (that’s up north). The site is lovely: 400 acres of woods surround a gentle clutch of cabins, cycle paths, bird watching sanctuaries and a tasteful little village in the middle where the pool, adventure activities and restaurants are carefully housed.
The chalets are pretty swish, too. We went for the two-room cabin so you actually get separated bedrooms rather than a bedsit-y all-in-one approach in the smaller cabins. You get everything: oven, pots and pans, dishwasher, outdoor BBQ, fridge freezer and a 40” flatscreen TV with full HD freeview, two toilets and a bath. Our baby is only 6 months old, so we were able to book off-peak term time, which came out at £570 for four nights. Still a little pricey to me (I’m from Yorkshire), but far cheaper than school holiday rates.
The first thing I’d do differently: turn up sooner. You can only enter your cabin from 4pm on the day of arrival, and Center Parcs has a system whereby you drop your stuff/baby/wife off at the cabin and then lock your car away for the rest of your stay. This is to keep the roads clear for walking and cycling and to encourage you to stay in the facility – no wandering off to some cafe half a mile down the road. The downside is that everybody rocks up at the same time and all the roads become jammed on arrival. It took an hour to grind through stationary traffic before we could unload. Center Parcs lets you turn up sooner and enjoy the facilities before your cabin is ready, and I’d definitely do that next time.
The facilities are excellent. There’s a large set of pools, both for babies and for everyone, with slides, a wave machine and so on. There’s a big sports hall with a pub bolted on, lots of nature trails, bowling, zip lines,, segways, minigolf… The prices aren’t too bad for most things either.
The other thing I’d do differently is remember to pack a disposable BBQ for use on the patio outside. There’s a brick barbecue built but you need to add your own tray thing to make it work. We had to go to the on-site shop, were they cost £8 each. The same exact thing can be found far cheaper elsewhere – and this is the point, bring your own food and pack well. The on-site Co-op is expensive, but it’s a captive audience on site so if you’ve forgotten something it’ll cost ya. There are free baby food pouches available in the restaurants, though, which is a great initiative.
Finally, bring a spider grabber. I was pleasantly surprised that my fears about ‘fake nature’ were unfounded. The site really is built into a forest, which means that you really are surrounded by animals. Geese peck at your cabin windows, squirrels run between chalets, and yes, spiders and winged things do scurry or hurry in at night. I’m encouraged by that, it shows that nature is thriving on this site, but if you don’t like spiders bring a grabber to move them back out the door safely.
In all Center Parcs was a pleasant surprise and disproved all of my unfounded fears – at a price…