Center Parcs advice please? On a budget!

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We are going to Center Parcs (Sherwood Forest) in May. We are on a tight budget.

I’ve just looked at bike hire prices and it’s just really expensive (well for us anyway). We will have a 3 (nearly 4) and 6 year old so I’m contemplating just taking their scooters. My biggest concern with that is whether our youngest will manage getting around on her scooter for the whole time we are there. We didn’t pay extra for a more central villa location so could be right on the outskirts of the village.

I’m just wondering if anyone who has been can tell us what worked for them? Our preference would be to hire a bike with trailer but at over £80, we just can’t justify the expense.

I’m really grateful for any advice. Thanks ☺️

I'd honestly hire the bikes and trailer. It will be money well spent!

With two little dc I would prioritise transport over eating out or paid activities. When ours were that age we hired a bike with a trailer for dc2 and a bike with a tag-along for dc1.

Unless you want children's activities to provide babysitting for you to have some adult-only time, there is so much to do at CP with dc of this age that you really do not need to spend extra. But they will get exhausted, and you will be travelling around with stuff to carry, so bikes can make all the difference.

I'm not being risqué or anything (adult-only time). We used to book a babysitter one evening in every holiday there, when the dc were too little to be left, so that we could relax our vigilance at the swimming pool for once and actually ride the flumes together.

We went with DC 6/2 and used a pram and scooter to get around but mostly used the swimming pool. Do you still have a pram?

Food is probably the biggest expense so buy plenty of snacks etc to take, we had 2 meals in our lodge every day but you could easily cook a main meal there too. You could even take flasks for hot drinks and juice for making up your own drinks to save buying them out.

Don't worry about activities, we've found it's plenty swimming, going to the park and exploring for younger ones.

We do still have a pushchair that DD2 will happily go in when tired? Would that be a good option? We could let her scoot and I could walk with the pushchair and put her in if her legs get tired.

We are planning to take a food shop in with us and eat all meals in the villa (bar one restaurant trip).

Sherwood is pretty big and quite hilly. It could be a 15-20 minute walk to the swimming pool

I'd hire a bike

If a bike and trailer is your preferred choice, could you perhaps see if you can pick up these up second hand from a local selling site?

We have been to Sherwood many times, we never hired bikes but the kids had scooters and we walked. Furthermore we rarely did activities !

We always had a great time, I am sure you will too

We've been to the Sherwood Forest one with small children and scooters would be ideal. As far as I remember it's fairly level with no massive hills like at Windfell. I wouldn't bother about booking activities, the swimming for that age is amazing, and mine spent hours out the back of the accommodation building dens and exploring.

No need to do individual paid activities. We did whole family ten pin bowling / tennis court. Parks and the nature reserve at sherwood are fab.

Eat meals in your lodge and bring lunchy foods and snacks to take out and about with you. There's a Tesco nearby that I often click and collect to.

Sherwood is very flat. But the site is big. We've always had bikes. We always take our own.

We go most years in March and the only activity we ever pay for is the aerial adventure.

Both my younger kids still take scooters and everyone is happy.

It is quite large and a bit hilly, and there can be quite a walk. We pay to stay centrally now but haven't in the past and it can be a good 15-20 minute walk which isnt great when the kids are knackered.

What about looking on Facebook/selling sites for any second hand bikes? Ideal time now as some may have had new ones for xmas.

Why not go with just scooters, and if it really doesn’t work for you, you can see if there’s anything still available to hire once you are there? When ours were smaller we tended to walk with the youngest in the buggy, and the eldest loved to explore as we went. We’ve only really used bikes to get around since they were 10+ and a bit more independent. It’s also a great break with little ones without booking extra activities - free swimming, free playgrounds, exploring the forest and animal spotting from your lodge. My eldest is 16 now and this is still her holiday of choice (mostly because she hates flying!)

It's quite hilly at Sherwood. We have always had a trailer but not just for kids, its handy for all the swimming stuff.

We went recently and kids took scooters. We were also at the very edges and it was a 20 minute walk to the center. My two were fine but my youngest is 5.

To be honest though I think there are so many folk on bikes in center parcs that it actually becomes quite intimidating/dangerous to walk in some of the main thoroughfares. I found it quite stressful trying to keep my kids in to the side and out of the way of people who might not actually use bikes that often but are on holiday. We were in the Lake District CP though so it might be different in Sherwood.

We ate in our cabin and did one of two activities, but it is not a cheap holiday by any stretch of the imagination.

Sherwood really isn't very flat crackery!

If you don't know where your lodge is yet you will before you go, it will give you an estimated walk time to the centre.

Personally I like taking the pram as it's good to carry things on too!

Could you now reserve a more central cabin as an add on to your booking? It might work out cheaper than all the bike hire.

Or alternatively, a cabin in the second ‘ring’ which is actually close to the central area? It costs a little less and is a good compromise - that is what we have done for our next CP trip.

I would book the bikes and the trailer. I know others have estimated 15 - 20 mins walk which is okay on your way to the centre, but after a day in the pool and/or exploring, they will be exhausted on the way back (our always fell asleep in the trailer). Also that's only one trip - we used to get up having breakfast/lunch, go to the centre and swim/do activities, go home for dinner and then back into the centre for an event/fireworks/something to do. That's a lot of walking/scooting for toddlers.

It really doesn't have to be expensive when you get there, we found a lot of the activities were poor quality and not worth the money. I would recommend a food shop and buy your logs for the burner before you go too as the onsite supermarket is quite expensive.

We are going again in April, DC are a bit older now so it will be their first time having a bike each.

Have you looked at what lodges are still available to book? It might be worth having a look on the map to see where they are and how much it costs. We have booked the first villa in the middle area (Elvedon though) as it was cheaper than hiring bikes and knew we could walk to the centre easily.