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Centre Parcs Elveden

4 replies

liamsdaddy · 04/04/2011 13:19

We are planning a weekend at Centre Parcs Elveden later this year. To get around it seems a good idea to hire bikes, but what would be the best way of ferrying our 2 year old.

There seem to be two options; hire a baby carrier and have that mounted to one of the bikes. I?m suspecting that would somewhat disturb the centre of balance for the bike but at least the child is strapped in securely.

The other option is to hire a trailer. The looks more fun but what I?m wondering about these is about the safety straps ? are there any? I?m sure I could rely on my little boy to attempt to leave the trailer while it is moving (the dare devil that he is) if he wasn?t strapped down.

Does anyone have any other comments for suggestions about centre parcs Elveden? Is there anything we should be avoiding?

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runningmonkey · 04/04/2011 13:27

We've been to Elveden a few times and like it a lot. We've never hired bikes but have just walked/pushchaired it around the place (there are some nice woodland paths that bikes can't go down). I personally don't like bike trailers v much as they don't seem all that safe in terms of being visible with cars but as that won't be an issue once you are in the resort I would go with that if you are not confident about balance with a child seat on the back - also provides handy extra storage space for swimming bags etc.

As for other things...

Haven't used them myself but have heard excellent things about the creche/kids facilities if you fancy some child free time!

We never tend to eat out while there as we go in a big group and it works out as being a bit pricey but usually treat ourselves to take-away curry on the last night - feels v decadent to get it delivered to your chalet.

Have a good time.

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kellibabylove · 06/08/2011 15:40

I love it there we had a trailer for 2 days, dds had lots of fun in there and it is handy for shopping or after craft activities but it was so heavy. Traded it in for bike seats which were perfect.

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ShowOfHands · 06/08/2011 15:52

Bike seats don't unbalance the bike at all. You just get used to the new weight distribution.

And bike trailers are very safe- even on a road -and they have 5 point harnesses in them, just like a carseat would.

When we go we take our own bikes/trailer with us. DD's too big for the seat on the bike now so the trailer is perfect (you can stick lots of stuff in it too).

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liamsdaddy · 27/09/2011 10:32

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I went with a bike seat on the back of the bike but we did have a few balance issues in the end. The biggest issue was with 15 kg of 2.5 yrs little boy loaded on the back ? when he fell asleep in the seat he became a dead weight and that made mounting and (more importantly) unmounting the bike dangerous.

For my bike I have to reverse hurdle my leg over the bar to unmount. Trying to hold the bike and the (sleeping) child and get off was beyond my strength. I?ve got a sore tendon on my leg from trying to fight gravity and a few bruises from inserting myself between the ground and the bike to protect the little boy. It looked like DS escaped completely unscathed except for an unwelcome jolt from his sleep!

Centreparcs probably could do with a few more walls/fences to aid getting off the bike. Using a tree would be unwise, as one of our friends found out.