To think Center Parcs really isn’t middle class

[GodAgainstAll]

Just spent a few days there for the first time. It’s expensive and the people there seem to be v affluent in terms of clothes/cars, but middle class? I was surprised.

Why are flashy cars and dubai holidaymakers odd?

Back when the first Center Parcs opened with the dome, lazy river and big pools in 1987 and beyond we had a similar water park called I think Water Palace in Purley Way - not a hotel though. DM would take us there at weekends or in school holidays with our friends as it meant we’d swim and laze around. Sadly it closed down after a few years but it was good fun with wave machine. In France where parents have holiday home (Jonzac) there’s a similar water park but with outside beach and canoeing as well as a spa and jacuzzis, plunge pool etc inside.

We went in the peak weeks and it was very white, with a few successful Indian families there.

Our kids had a great time but I found it quite dull, the evening entertainment was a touch too children-focused- and I found it quite hard to strike up interesting conversations with other mothers. Wouldn't go again

More than 30 years ago, my definitely middle class boss heard I was going to Centre Parcs for the 1st time and actually frowned at me, warning me that it was 'upmarket' such snobbery.
Despite not being posh enough - in his opinion - I still love Centre Parcs.
I don't understand why some are saying it is like Butlins. It's a completely different sort of holiday. There's no entertainment in the evening at CP, and there's not acres of forest at Butlins.

There's an even funnier recent thread about whether the word 'bog' is MC

Yes, definitely there should be a new class- ‘academia class’ for people who are 3+ generation university.

we have less money than affluent working classes, but we spend it wisely, and we have very nuanced ‘know how’. What the aspiring middle classes are trying to imitate now, we did back in the 80s but differently.

for example camping. Camping is now considered middle class, and I found it hilarious when I went camping with friends and all they did was sit in the campsite all day long and play with their camping equipment. What’s the point of that?? When we went camping, it was as a base for the all-day hiking we did. I have even seen people with camping wardrobes!! Can’t think of anything worse! If you want a wardrobe, go to a hotel!

centre parks is not middle class. True middle classes, when they want to go to the countryside, go to the family house that’s been in the family for generations and which probably has a bit of a leaky roof. I’m not talking country estate. Just a biggish detached in a village somewhere, with furniture that has been passed down generations. And they go for long country walks. None of this structured activities that you have to pay for. And you go swimming in the local river or nearby beach (before Brexit when it was still faeces-free).

centre parks is not middle class, has never been.

Not at all. Your income doesn't say what class you're in, necessarily.

I'm MC, culturally. But skint. My plumber is WC, has a much, much nicer car and house than me, and goes on much fancier holidays than I could ever afford.

Lots of WC people, especially those in the trades are earning a very healthy income.

Now we know how to find the answer: what do they call them at CP?

It’s a holiday camp, not Glyndebourne. Not sure what you were expecting.

There's an even funnier recent thread about whether the word 'bog' is MC

i remember that! What was the consensus - should we say “off to the loo/ toilet” etc or “I’m just going to powder my nose”??

I didn’t mean they specifically were ‘odd’ people, I meant the whole clientele was odd, if that makes sense. There were a lot of bright, flash label track suits, clothes, cars, selfies etc… for an outdoor ‘country park’ experience. That was quite odd to me.

Loo! Definitely loo!

Can class be fucking banned from MN. What a load of twaddle bullshit

Just my opinion:

Law isn't a shortage profession. It's oversaturated and competitive. There are thousands of new law graduates produced every year, very few of them will be accepted onto training schemes to qualify. Many from my university (I did accountancy) had to work as paralegals etc, some carried on as that after a couple of years, others moved on to other professions.
Of course few make big money but I don't consider it 'easy'.

Medicine is a shortage profession all over the world. Obviously. But the degree intake is restricted in the first place. And it takes decades of exams etc to qualify.

Accountancy - similar shortage. Even though the degree intake isn't restricted the big4 accountancy firms alone hire hundreds of new trainees each. Every year. And not even with accountancy degrees! Across all UK regions. Once you pass the exams and qualify as a Chartered accountant many doors are open. And if you don't make the Big4 there are lots of other smaller firms.

Of course those who are truly passionate will follow their path but for those of us who need money to eat and pay rent it's about financial security first and foremost. I consider law similar to investment banking (although the latter is much harder). Great if you can get it, but not as easy as the rest. Attitude of colleagues, yes, but also because of the nature of the profession.

FYI I also think that TV law shows portray the legal profession in a more exciting manner than it really is. It made loads of people want to become lawyers, have fun and earn the big bucks. While people still think accountancy is boring. Law is also the default 'academic yet professional' humanities degree when a lot of people don't know what they want to do, they study Law. Oxbridge has Law but not Accountancy or even Finance as an undergraduate degree.

"Margot! Ophelia! Why aren't you wearing your Refugees Welcome badges?"

😂

successful Indian families
😂

@dingledells because it’s not just inherited it’s a bit where there’s muck there’s brass kind of view. My ancestors on my mother’s side were Victorian industrialists that owned a factory. There is a part of Blackadder sketch about new money and I guess they were viewed like that at the time.

@Just1MoreMinute thats the house that DH family had till quite recently, had a few acres and furniture that had been passed down. It was sold as unmanageable and needed too much work doing to it. They swam in the part of their own river that ran through the property. He asked me to marry him in the garden, it still had all the bells from when they had servants in the kitchen. It was shabby as anything. I remember helping repair a chimney on the roof once many years ago.

"True" middle classes"

We are truly middle class by your definition (well dh's side of the family are only second generation uni educated but mine are 4th so we average out) - my family even have the country house with the leaking roof. Still been to Centre Parcs a couple of times. Was expecting to hate it. Didn't. Certainly it made a change from the leaky roof.

This is brilliant. I nominate for Classics.

We went a few times years ago with our young kids and enjoyed it. The other parents at the children's activities were mostly older, polite, gentle with their kids etc. That's very different to what we used to experience in soft play in our city for example.

It seems the OP noticed a different crowd than they expected. I'm sure most of us are aware of certain types of behaviour, that many PP have called chavy. Flashy cars and heavily branded clothes, with shouting, feral behaviour (unregulated children without the expectations or tools to regulate or behave appropriately), swearing at children as a means of interaction or discipline, smoking and spitting around them etc. I'm guessing that CP has a reputation for the kind of people who were there when we went, and the OP expected the same sort of crowd. They saw rough behaviour on wealthy people and it wasn't what they expected, hardly a groundbreaking discovery worthy of people pretending they don't know what chavy behaviour is.

True middle classes, when they want to go to the countryside, go to the family house that’s been in the family for generations and which probably has a bit of a leaky roof.

This has to be incredibly outdated. Surely this would be the preserve of the upper classes now & also what about immigrants? They aren’t going to have family going back generations or are immigrants not relevant in class discussions?

Even the riff-raff have money these days. I imagine they're the same type of people that go camping in a fully loaded VW camper, expensive air beam tent, and 3k worth of paddleboarding equipment.

I'm not one of them. We had a £10 pop up tent from Tesco.

It's still how we spend most of our holidays. But I'm not sure how unusual that is.

Well I was desperate to go to CP as a dc but mother insisted we went to our house in the South of France & swim in the local lac. I felt very deprived & had severe fomo for years! 😆