Whinfell or Sherwood?

[Gattabianca]

I'm trying to book a last minute trip to centre parks, 2 adults and a 3yo.
We went to Whinfell last year, stayed in one of the central lodges on the lake. We really liked it with the ducks, red squirrels, rabbits etc.

I've just had a look and the only lodges left in Whinfell are in the furthest away area. There's loads more availability in Sherwood and we could get a lodge right in the centre.

There's virtually nothing in it in terms of price and travel distance, though it's a nicer and easier journey up to Whinfell.
Sherwood Forrest looks much bigger and I read in another thread that's it's busy with building work going on.

Has anyone been to both and which would you go for?

TIA

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

No idea about building work but I much prefer Sherwood because it is bigger. It feels less claustrophobic.

[AliceMum09]

DH and I went to Sherwood 12 years ago, pre kids, and more recently we're regulars at Whinfell with our 3 children and my extended family.

I don't know about building work at Sherwood, but it (and Elveden Forest, which we spent last week at with friends taking advantage of having a half term week that was different to the rest of England and therefore not sky high prices!) has a slightly different 'feel' to Whinfell because Whinfell was not originally built as a Center Parcs. The village centre at Sherwood is in the open air, not all undercover like the restaurant/shops/swimming pool entrance area is at Whinfell. The accommodation doesn't look as nice as Whinfell either, it's more like flat-roof portakabins than the nice houses with proper roofs at Whinfell. But of course they are all the same on the inside. However I did notice that the bedrooms and living space at Elveden were much smaller than than we've had at Whinfell (the same grade of accommodation). The beds in the twin rooms at Elveden were only thin 2'6" ones, not full 3' single beds, and the wardrobe door in one twin room could not open fully because the foot of the bed was in the way! The other twin was slightly longer, but still as narrow with narrow beds too.

Just realised you've probably booked by now anyway! You can't really go wrong whichever Center Parcs you choose. Although I've just said that the accommodation seemed more cramped at Elveden than Whinfell I think I actually preferred the 'openness' of the village centre at Elveden and would probably go there again before I chose Whinfell. Although for extended family holidays it's going to have to be Whinfell as my sister and her family are in Glasgow so Elveden isn't an option for them! We're actually less than an hour from Sherwood too, so I suppose we should try that one again at some point for an easy journey!