Centre parcs with 14 month old!!

[Lucykaya123]

I've got a long weekend break coming up with my 15 months old little girl at Center parcs Elveden forest. Looking for any advice any of you mummies have. She's just on the cusp of walking. We are looking at hiring bikes, what's best the trailer or the seat in the back? What are the cots like? Tips for swimming? Any advice would be much appreciated 🥰 X

You can’t get in to your lodge until 3pm, but you can use the facilities on-site – namely the swimming pool – from 10am onwards. Pack all your swimming stuff separately so that you can park up, load up your buggy with all your bits and spend the morning swimming. Then you can send the other half back to the car to drive it onto the village and up to your lodge with all the rest of your gear in, while you saunter over there all casual.
There’s a blackboard and chalks in all the lodges – an absolutely genius way of keeping toddlers entertained while you unload the car and get everything sorted.
I’d use a bike trainer rather than a rear seat. A trailer also doubles up as a handy shopping cart for trips to the ParcMarket and a means of carrying picnic stuff around.
Take beach towels for the pool. There are plenty of towels at your lodge, but you’re going to want them for baths and showers. And if you forgot, no problem – you can hire one for £2 at the pool desk.
Don’t worry about packing buoyancy aids. There are racks full of buoyancy jackets in two different sizes, and they’re free.
Keep an eye out for the baby feeding area in most of the restaurants – there’s a microwave, bottle warmer and baby food pots. It’s free and a really lovely, thoughtful touch.
Take buckets and spades for the beach.
Bring some bubble bath if you’re staying in an executive or exclusive lodge. They come with an amazing bath with bubble jets in, and I can honestly say it’s the most fun my son had the whole time during our stay.
Cots are good but quite narrow so if your dc move around a lot in their sleep, use a travel cot if you’ve got one. If you’re going to use the one provided, take small cot sheets. They don’t provide any bedding and in the past the ones that we’ve taken have been too large.
The only thing I would say is that the curtains are very thin, so if your dc needs a dark room to sleep for naps, you may want to take a black out blind and a small night light.

Take wildlife food to feed the squirrels and birds!

We went when our eldest was a similar age and he loved the seat on the back of the bike. They’re higher up, can see more etc.

Oh and the cots are standard travel cots

Cot wise I took a travel cot with me. They provide cots but you have to take your own bedding.

Theres lots of squirrels/ birds / ducks around and the playgrounds there are free to go on. We spent a lot of time out on walks/ at the parks there.