Center parcs is basic. Alternatives please.

[Summerstarsarepink]

Bland food. Floors sticky. Shouting parents drinking beer . Crap coffee. Dated. Kids unattended causing problems.

The Swimming pool was the only saving grace. i

After years o my brother telling me jow incredible CP’s is , we went with him last year. It was , for me, horrible. DH and I were shocked. Run down, hectic and stressful.

It was like weatherspoons and created a family park . Now maybe this is my stupidity but I was led to believe it was a luxury Butlins! I’m sorry but it (Elveden Forest) was just so disappointing .

Please recommend a luxury alternative .

I just don't want to be in one contained place with 'activities' , shit restaurants and loads of other people.

Well quite.

It's easier not to have to fly I find anyway.

People always say you have to "pay for the activities on top", I've been to holiday areas in Portugal/ Spain/ Greece/ Italy apart from the pool/ sea I've had to pay for other activities on top so IDK how that part is any different.

I do agree the food isn't great though. We mostly cook ourselves our 1 year old loves it though.

OP it sounds like CP isn't for you. The one I go to, Ireland, isn't like that at all. It is a very chill family feel. No one seems to be drinking to excess, we don't drink at all and tend to be back in our lodge by 9pm though so maybe later on things change

I disagree. We disliked CP (Elveden) and loved Bluestone. The buggies make it much easier to leave the site and there is much much more to do in the local area. We got into a loose structure of a morning outing and then an afternoon in the pool or vice versa. CP openly don’t want you to leave the site during your break (they don’t stop you but they also don’t make it easy) and I found it utterly claustrophobic.

I like Center Parcs but Elveden seemed a bit dated the last time we went, the main bit of the swimming pool is pretty much the same as it was when I visited about 20ish years ago, so probably due an update now.

Six pages in and no bum love jokes?

We’ve been to CP a few times with our kids at various ages. It’s not the holiday of my dreams, but if you take it for what it is, there’s plenty of fun to be had. It’s an easy, relatively cheap break for families to spend time together, and it works well across multiple generations. Our kids have enjoyed trying different activities over the years. Glow in the dark badminton with my septuagenarian parents was brilliant fun this year.

Every couple of years, my itinerant and spectacularly loaded BIL takes the whole family here for a long weekend. If you are local to Elveden, it’s a quick flight from Stansted. It’s gorgeous and perhaps more your thing. We’ve had wonderful stays here with grandparents, various cousins young and old, and the food is amazing! https://www.adaremanor.com/luxury-breaks-ireland/?gad_source=1

How is best to get there - do you need to drive?

This is absolute rubbish . We use centerparc locations as a touring base and mainly just use the pool in the evening a couple of times , the only issue is finding a parking space again when you get back - which actually just proves that we are not the only people going out .

Gleneagles Glenmor lodges. You can buy, you can rent for a week. Use of all the facilities and can book the extra activities easily

It used to be lovely years ago, like many places it has went down hill.

OK. That wasn’t our experience 🤷🏻‍♀️

if you/your kids are into serious sports this place is great. Loads to do, great restaurants, good apartments (there are some at the cheaper end too) and you can play sport from morning until night. With the added bonus of pretty much guaranteed sunshine. Because of the other parts to the island there are fairly regular flights. We go a few times a year and everyone enjoys it immensely https://www.clublasanta.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgcPKoM2DhAMVv6iDBx02sgp3EAAYASAAEgI3BvD_BwE

And I should add bar a few things every activity is included in your accommodation price.

We used to go to De Haan an Zee in Belgium, when it was run by Sunparks. From what I understand it is basically European Centreparcs, but everything was clean and usable, and it was in a beautiful part of Belgium. It was perfect for us. Sadly I hear Centreparcs have taken it over now so I imagine standards will have fallen (prices certainly rocketed, I checked).

We quite like CenterParcs, our local is Whinfell but it feels very 80's with the indoor 'shopping centre' so we always drive to Sherwood. It is what it is, accommodation is perfectly fine, we've always had lovely food there (don't mind a chain restaurant), pool is amazing, watching the wildlife is fun for the kids and they enjoyed the activities. Winter Wonderland was particularly special 2yrs ago, Biscuit decorating, and horse drawn carriage plus some lovely Pottery with the kids fingerprints on.
That said school holiday prices are ridiculous so we'll probably not return now.

Ah, see, this is completely missing the beauty of centerparcs.

10 years ago I would have agreed. I spent my uk holidays white water rafting, kayaking in the sea with whales, visiting decent climbing locations, etc.

But now I have children. If I go climbing, I want it to take 25 min max before the kids get bored, and for someone to hand them a pin badge at the end. I want a boat that fits 4 and is designed to float in a pond two feet deep. I want to know that I'm never more than 2 minutes away from a toilet, or a starbucks. That is the perfect holiday for me now and I'm not ashamed of it.

I somewhat agree about CP OP. The saving grace is the pool (and my children ADORED it, despite being too young for the big slides). I can’t seem to find anywhere else in the UK with an indoor pool set up on that scale.

However - grim restaurants as you say and annoying corner cutting. My DM treated my family and my DS/partner to a stay in a treehouse at Wolburn last year which was ££££ and very much stated to be super luxurious. It was a very special treat in honour of all the cancelled trips during covid. I was really unimpressed given the costs involved that housekeeping DID NOT COME ONCE during the three night stay - especially as the website said ‘daily housekeeping’ for the treehouses. When I called to check they said ‘sorry, not since Covid’ - a pathetic excuse by 2023. It really put me off as the main thing I like about holidays is coming back to a clean room which I haven’t had to clean!

I loved Crieff Hydro, as did my children - we did Xmas 2022 there. The swimming pool is more basic (just one slide) and a tiny bit chilly to memory but there is a separate adults only one which is blissful. They just did so much thoughtful stuff for the children though - bouncy castles in the ballroom, family ceilidh, real reindeers in the grounds, tropical animal handling session. Mine are begging to go back

DSis/partner not DS. I’m terrible at mumsenet!

Also not a CP fan. Our lodge was lovely (maybe just refurbished?) but didn’t like anything else! Hated the pool, just far too many people. Restaurants I thought were dirty, sticky tables etc although food was better than I expected (expectations were low!!) Mainly felt like I was trapped there and was like a lemming scurrying from place to place with loads of others. We’ve previously stayed on a landal site which was much better…

https://www.landal.co.uk/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAtt2tBhBDEiwALZuhAA98rC6UMT0ruJjCUmgKtl2UkG1KCaPx2iEcgbsC4QFrANF1hYDZ1RoCWwQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

🤣

We went to CP when dc were 5 and 7. The kids loved it! It’s just so easy .. 45 mins drive from our house. Cute cabin, v clean and comfortable. Pool is amazing. We didn’t use the restaurants but I like Starbucks so went there a couple of times, and I enjoyed the spa. Just so low stress!

I get why some people don’t like it but we’d have gone every year if we could afford it! Dd1 has asd and travel is difficult. It really suited her.

This is the kind of comment that happens when someone is scrabbling to appear better than others, but ironically ends up looking so much worse.

Tacky.

IveI'never understood the joy for CP. You can go abroad with the money they ask for. I prefer to stay in a cottage with a hot tub and venture out.