Centreparcs on the continent, facilities?

[Blandmum]

Are they the same (basically) as in the UK?

they do vary depending on where you go. I've been to Erperheid Belgium which is fairly modern, and also to one in Germany which was very old and didn't have very good facilities, but is in the Eifel area which is very pretty.

the one I went to in Germany was Heilbachsee.

we went to eem hoff in holland last august. More or less the same except our VIP lodge didn't have an oven
Swimming pool very similar shape etc to longleat. Was very good and would highly recommend as it was sooooo cheap including flights to get there compared to 7 days in august at one in the UK.

I'm looking at the prices and realising that I can get a week for the same rough price as I spent on a weekend in the UK! and we would have the fun of being on the continent

Is the housing similar (with the exception of no oven!)?

Same deal on the pool, ie use it as long as you like?

The house we stayed in in Heilbachsee was very dark - not enough lighting - but seeing as we only paid 100 euros for four nights, including use of the pool whenever, we didn't mind very much. But our kids are small, and they're not bothered about lack of activities as long as they had a playground and pool with slide they were happy. I wouldn't go ther with older children.

I'd recommend Erperheide though. Don't know how it compares with the UK though as I've never been to a centre parcs in the UK.

vip was great, we got 25 euros to spend at the supermarket?? and free bread rolls/croissants delivered fresh at about 6.45 evry morning and a voucher for a daily english newspaper everyday.

Even though we had no oven - I still produced a meal every night, nothing fancy just stuff like fried (no grill either) pork chops with a bag of salad from the shop and crusty bread and we also had a dishwasher so no hassle of washing up etc.

We booked activities that the kids chose to get the most ofut of the weekend. Dd did a computer anumation thing and a CGI session. Ds chose archery and quadbiking. All in all it cost around £100.

At the end they told me that the activities were OK but the best bits were being able to cycle everywhere and the pool complex.

In future we'd do less activities, I think, and spend more time in the pool, as mine are real swimaholics!

Never been to one in the UK but went to Bispingerheide in Germany last year - it was great but in retrospect we should have paid more and not stayed in an economy villa. Very very basic. We're going to Kempervennen in Holland this year. I have a friend who takes his kids to various sites in Holland and Belgium and has done for years. They seem so much better value than the UK and, as you said, it's abroad so a bit more of an adventure!