Is a 7 day break in Centre Parcs Longleat too long ?

[crikeybill]

We booked our summer holiday for next year yesterday. Were going to Centre Parcs at Longleat for a week in September. It was only about £30 extra to go for 7 days rather then a 4 day midweek break so we did it. Were staying in a new style executive 3 bedroom lodge by a lake.

Only thing is ive been reading a few Centre Parcs threads and now im worried Is 7 days too long ?
I have 3 dc, dd1 aged 10, dd2 aged 8 and ds will be 2 when we go.
The girls are stupidly excited about the pool and rapids, and we anticipate doing lots of walking, cycling, and swimming ( so mainly the free stuff lol ) but now im worried we ( well the girls ) will get bored ?? We will budget for a couple of paid activities and eating out 2 or 3 times.

Anyone ?

[savoycabbage]

If its only £30 then you can always come home early if you have had enough.

[crikeybill]

£30 each I forgot that was the line I told DH !!

[Screamingfishwife]

I think you would be quite tired after 7 days however you would not have to rush around so much to fit everything in.

We have spent Mon-Fri there and could have crammed lots more in and we also broke it up with a trip to Longleat Safari Park which is less than a mile a way, (thank you Tesco Clubcard points), and we could have spent much longer there too.

I think we could probably spend 7 days there although I would probably need a break afterwards. I guarantee the children would love it!

[shottspar]

We stayed for 7 days at Whinfell two years ago and I have to say it was fantastic! It was particularly good on the Friday - being the changeover day - everything was so quiet and we pretty much had the swimming pool to ourselves in the morning.

As we were there for 7 days, we just slowed the pace of our holiday. We went swimming pretty much every day, but we spaced out the other activities. The result was a really relaxing family holiday, with plenty of sunny afternoons on our patio drinking wine .

[crikeybill]

ooh thank you thats really reassured me youve made it sound lovely.

We're not plannning to do lots of paid activites and we thought we would do similar to you, swimming every day, walking, eating etc with a couple of activities in the week.
Thanks for the friday morning tip that sounds great and will remember that.

Oh I cant wait, but its 18 months away !!!
am so looking forward to the kids being exhausted after some lovely family time, the baby sleeping and dh and I snuggled with a log fire

[nannyl]

when i was younger i stayed for 7 nights (with my mum / dad / sister) at elvdon forest.

I remember that we had a lovely time and did not want to go home. (I would have been about 15 years old i think)

We all had a lovely family holiday.

The previous year we had done disney / florida for 3 weeks... i remember, when we came home, my Dad commented that on a day by day basis, all in, Florida was cheaper

(and we did all the main parks / disney (10 days) / space centre / wet n wild etc etc, and ate out nearly every day when in florida)

We still had a lovely family holiday in centre parks though, and took our own bikes.... looking back, other than swimming, the only activites i can remember us doing was badminton / bowling!

[Davidsmom]

Hi,

We are in Whinfell forrest at the moment and have stayed for a week after 2 short breaks- 1 midweek and 1 weekend. 2 DC 4 and 3.

We have actually all relaxed this time after the last 2 times manically racing round trying everything out. The lake here (havent been anywhere else at CP) is great as we are close to the boating /watersports so both ours have come back with wet bottoms after kayaking with Dad but as so close its no problem. The lake for my two is a great attraction in itself with lots of stick gathering for prodding mud/weed and pretend games. Feeding the ducks is an endless activity....obviously. If possible buy/ bring plenty old bread or proper duck food. DVD's etc for quite afternoons and microwave popcorn?

At Whinfell there are a few bookable activities that you can leave or minamally supervise the kids e.g. pizza making where the kids coloured in then made pizza. Here you can sit at a nearby table eating lunch (admittably late) while the kids get on with it. If your older ones would help out ??for a very short time? There are some pre bookable swimming activities here that let you ion earlier than usual then you can use the flumes etc while everyone else is changing.

There are quite a few offers on here re take away combinations that they dont advertise in advance so maybe ask nearer the time for recomendations at your venue for money saving tips. Premier Chinese/indian takeaway 4 two with 2 kids pizza £34ish and cheaper.

Really enjoying this time but perhaps kids just older etc??!!

[Molehillmountain]

Weve done three one week breaks at cp now and it's great. Slower pace, a lovely feeling on the middle changeover when you're staying and a feeling of really being away from it all. Really hope my folks want to do it again next year!

[zipzap]

If cost is an issue at cp, consider looking at the ones on the continent - particularly the Netherlands, belgium and Germany.

We went to one in the Netherlands (het heijderbos) and even taking into account the relatively high euro exchange rate, ferry, petrol and road tolls, it was still cheaper than just the cp accommodation in the UK. And that was for site that they had rated as 5 star with loads of facilities including a dome that was the size of the swimming dome but full of jungle plants and tropical birds and an adult sized jungle themed adventure climbing frame (think massive soft play centre but in a jungle theme as if on the Crystal Maze but with rope bridges, caves to climb through, huge teak climbing frame, even a cafe in there. Our two ds absolutely loved it and it was one of the free activities.

[t0lk13n]

I found the het heijderbos dirty when we went in october...the sports bar was yuck with flies everywhere. The accommodation was very dated...although they had built new ones the other side of the lake. However we loved the fact we could explore Holland and Germany...Cologne was great....want to go back there again.