Forest holidays or Center parcs

[Primrosehill82]

Hi all
I’ve got a high functioning autistic 7 year old and 3 year old twins and I want to take them away with a girlfriend of mine and her kids to either Center parcs or forest holidays.

I’ve been to CP before at longleat & it was brilliant, we had a lodge and went out every night for dinner. Did the swimming, hired bikes etc. we did pay for some activities but found them a bit expensive and my kids weren’t too bothered.

my friend recommended the Forest of Dean forest holidays as an alternative for when we book again in nov. I know they only have one restaurant on site & I know they don’t have the swimming which I’m also okay with. I think there accommodation looks more modern & cleaner.

any recommendations as to what you guys will think will be best?

we like the idea of having dinner out and putting kids to bed & cracking open a bottle of wine so we can some adult time in too.

It depends how outdoorsy you and your family are. At CP, there are activities to suit every type of person, but there are fewer activities at FH and most of them are nature-based and outdoors. I also think it depends whether you want to spend your stay without driving at all (CP), or whether you’re willing to go on day trips out (at FH my family could only spend a couple of days at the site before getting a bit bored). I like FH because it feels a lot more down-to-Earth and less commercialised. You don’t feel like your money is being sucked at every opportunity. Where are you based? There are holiday parks which are middle-ground between the two.

Hi @Fivemoreminutes1
I’m based near Brighton. Mt friend recommended the Forest of Dean one.

one thing I liked about CP (longleat) was there were no cars & we had the land train which was lovely actually to ride back at night as the kids loved it.

being totally honest I don’t want to really leave the park and drive places. Is that an option at forest hols or will it be a bit boring fir the kids?

the accommo looked nicer at forest holidays I thought too

Haven't done forest holidays but recently went to bluestone resort in Wales which we really enjoyed. It's similar to center Parcs and has a lovely village area with independent restaurants and you can sit and have a drink overlooking the kids play park. The pool isn't as extensive as centerparcs but it was still good enough to entertain our kids.

@confusedlots ive heard that it’s really good there. It’s like a 5 hour drive away from me

I haven't stayed in a lodge but camped a few times next door to the Forest Holidays site & it's same shop. I don't think there's much to do on site although the lodges look nice. You would need to book activities off site I reckon.

The Landal sites look nice - the German one we went to was great. They have a couple in the UK. If you live in Brighton it would be cheaper to go to a Landal or CP in Belgium or Holland or Northern France.

I think Sandy Balls is more of a compromise between CP and FH

I think the Forest Holiday accommodation is much nicer than Center Parcs. But would say there isn’t loads to do on-site, the playground is pretty small and other than that it would be bikes/walks/exploring etc. we’ve really enjoyed Forest Holidays for a long weekend but if you want more to do then Center parcs is better

The Forest of Dean FH is our favourite place to go! Coleford is just down the road and has a few places the kids would enjoy. There's Perrygrove Railway which once you're in, you can go on the trains as often as you want. There are play parks and things there too. Across the road from them is Puzzlewood which is great to walk around and has animals too. Up the road is Clearwell caves. At FH itself there are activities available but not many. Lots of walks to venture on too depending how far you want to walk. Whichever holiday you decide on, have a great time!! x

I don’t think FH and CP are really that comparable. FH is much more “back to nature”. The Forest of Dean site is fabulous. Puzzlewood and caves near by and you can walk to Symonds Yat. I much prefer it to busy Center parcs personally but it depends what you’re looking for.

Amazing - thank you all for your input.

I think I’ll try the FH one as I tried CP earlier this year and see how we get on.

either way we are away from home & the daily drudgery of life ;)

I've done Forest Holidays but not at that site and i think the accommodation is better than Centre Parcs unless you go for one of the top of the range lodges at CP. However, I've only done it for a girl's weekend away when we've been happy to make our own entertainment which mostly evolved around bottles of wine and the hot tub. I find CP a bit claustrophobic and lacking in character. Maybe also consider one of the big caravan type sites (parkdean, hoseasons, haven etc) as a lot of them also have lodges and a swimming pool.