Center Parcs Longleat

I thought it was a great family holiday - they have 2 large domes with loads of shops, restaurants, bowling, swimming pool you name it...

It's great for the children, you can hire bikes to cycle round the forest, me and my husband are taking our daughter again in 3 weeks time to see santa :).

My 1 year old loved it. Great set up for children - though that said, it was more geared up towards those aged 3-12.
The new style accommodation was cheap and good quality, but take food with you - the shop is expensive.

You'd better be fit! We went to this one first before Elvedon. It's very hilly. We hired bikes. We are not fit we discovered. Everything is quite spaced out at this Center Parcs and you do have to allow time to travel, unlike Elvedon where everything is under ten minutes away (unless like my DH you manage to get lost - how I have no idea, I suspect wine may have been involved). Anyhow, accommodation - woodland lodge, very nice, didn't do much in the pool, kids were too young when we went (2009). But if you are fit or like boardrunning, this is probably great!

My wife and (oh yeah,I'm a Dad,if thats okay with you mums)I and 5 children spent 10 days in Longleat and loved it.Its clean,safe to let the chrildren off on bikes and lots of life guards around the pool.However,its not cheap,especially the many 'extras'that kids would love to do...e.g bike hire;they're a must to get around,as taking the land train is slow,45mins to get to some parts of the park.We had to hire as we'd travelled from overseas,but I could have bought a few bikes when factoring in hire cost.There was no deals on offer for long stay guests(we got 6 bikes and a trailer,NOT cheap for a week),even though I tried hard to get one.Then there's those hills,lots of them;you need to be fit to cycle up them,though some of the more sporty types who no doubt had trained in their local gym for the previous months had no trouble...I've barely time to scratch,hence my need to have a Resuss' team behind me.Next,eating out.We ate on site alternate nights and enjoyed the food and it was fairly priced.The on site shop is not cheap,so Miss.Sat Nav got us to the local super markets. The apartments are lovely,clean and very comfortable.Across the road is the safari park which the children will love..just don't let the monkeys get on your car,it'll be dismantled in minutes. We've stayed in Butlins(my wifes nightmare) and Haven (Wales ,better than Butlins).Centre Parcs is a grade 'A',Haven B- and Butlins 'D'.Start saving now and go!!

We love it here and usually go twice a year!

We always stay in an "executive" villa which gives you daily maid service, a dishwasher, dvd player etc - well worth it. Most of the accommodation was refurbished/being refurbished last time we went.

We have hired a baby-sitter twice and been very happy both times - the second time a lovely lady came whi was actually a childminder during the day so that was great! We have also used the "bumblebees" nursery several times and found all the staff to be kind and very professional. They even remember our little boy which is nice!

The spa is also great and you can get a special deal on the nursery when you book together.

If you don't want to walk for miles/take the land train, I would recommend choosing a villa in the central region, close to all the action.

Brilliant! The best centerparcs I would say - swimming pool was great fun and lots of nice bike trails!

Great for active families. There is lots to do in one place, and it is all made very easy. If you have bike riding/swimming kids around the 3-8 mark it is perfect. Might be less fascinating for teenagers though.

Don't bother with the extra stuff unless you are really keen to do a particular thing. Seasoned center parc'ers go to enjoy the cycling and the pool. Oh and give the overpriced forecourt food a miss, the supermarket is quite reasonably priced. Cheap midweek breaks in Jan/Feb (hello fellow HErs!), a bit cold but really good value for money.

There are a lot of negative things about Centreparcs. The accommodation is very unluxurious, the food is expensive, if you arrive early on a Friday it is a bit like being at an airport for the afternoon while you hang around for your room. It's not really cheap either. But on both occasion I have been there I have had a really fantastic time. You spend so much time in the open air. There are no cars. There are lots of trees. And bikes. And the pool is fantastic fun. There's loads of fun things to do without much effort. It's even great for babies.

We stayed in a revamped/modern design apartment which was a lot cleaner and better equipped than the usual villas we have stayed in. Would pay the extra to stay in one of these again.

We have a 5 year old and a 1 year old. Both enjoyed the pool - lots of slides/things to do for older child and toddler pool area for 1 year old (I missed the other toddler pool area up the stairs until the last day which had slides for v small ones - so don't make my mistake!). The changing rooms there are not as well spaced out/pleasant as Elvedon. The toddler pool area at Elevedon also seemed better laid out.

The hills can be quite a struggle with the trailer if you are going up hill and a wimp like me!(am used to Elvedon being flat in comparison)

The adventure playground was v good fun and big for the children. Soft play areas in 2 of the restaurants - Huck's diner and Sports cafe.


Spent time at the pottery cafe with my 5 year old - painting pottery which they then glaze - she loved it and it is quiet and relaxing there!

Overall we had a good time - the kids loved it and would go to Centreparc again - however may go back to Elvedon as I am a wimp with the hills.

I love Center Parcs and thoroughly enjoyed Longleat. It helps if you do your homework beforehand i.e. book the right villa location, book the things you'd like to do in the Aqua Sana as it books up very quickly, book the children into the activities they'd like to do. Try to save money and cut down on wasted time by taking your own bikes (and locks) and your self catering pack so that you have the staples you need. We stayed a night in a nearby B & B which meant that we arrived early and feeling fresh. We couldn't get into our villa until the alloted time but could find our way around and sort ourselves out which was useful.

Fantastic relaxed holiday. We paid the supplement to have accommodation near the plaza as we had little ones with us which was worth it as some people had to walk a long way and it is very very hilly. There is a land train to take the strain of the walk but it involves a fair amount of waiting at peak times. Beautiful surroundings. Restaurants were over priced and disappointing so we tended to self cater.
The most disappointing thing was the state of the "Comfort" accomodation which was really damp (even in the hot summer we had last year), with mould on the walls and a really strong smell of damp throughout the chalet. The best moment was seeing a deer strolling past the chalet early one morning before anyone else was up.

Our first visit as a family and having just arrived home, we all feel as though we've been away for far longer than our three nights - we're refreshed and invigorated! Lots of exercise if your accommodation is on the west side of the village (as ours was) due to the at least once daily hike up the hill to the plaza (swimming, etc). We enjoyed the cycling, but I wouldn't want to do the journeying back and forth in the winter. Accommodation is functional but very tired and really needs the upgrade....coming very soon. Our nearly 5 year old loved the swimming, meeting the owls and being trailed around. Even more to do for slightly older children.

I love Centerparcs despite the downsides which are the price hikes in school holidays and the need to book any treatment in the Aqua Sana that you want either before you go or the moment you arrive. We first went to Longleat when my son was about 10 months old and it was brand new and fab. We've visited several times since and I'm sure it'll look great again after the refurbishment.