HOW MUCH is center parcs? Please enlighten me as why its worth it.

[notsomumsie]

Not only do I not get the appeal, but just looking for a short break with the in-lowa (short being the operative word) its so expensive. And the treehouses for 4 days mid-week in middle of nowhere cost the same as I am paying for a bit extravagant IMHO two week holiday in the Med in a private villa with a pool, with flights. Not 4 days in nottinghamshire in a posh shed.

Seriously, why is centre parcs any good. For those prices nannies in uniform would have to meet you at the entrance gates with champagne then run you a bath while they teach the children piano, then spend all night massaging your shoulders.

And also for those prices, I'd expect some bogroll thrown in, not included in a £18 "welcome pack".

Enlighten me.

in-laws, not in-iowa

You can do Centre Parcs on the cheap, or you can spend a small fortune...

I recently took ds for a weekend off peak at Elvedon Forest for £279 for a 2 bedroom executive lodge with maid service, towels, dishwasher etc included. You would not get that price in the school holidays though. There was only the 2 of us but if 4 people were sharing that would be £70 each for a weekend.

We are going at easter for a midweek and it's costing quite a bit more, even we're sharing with friends to help bring the cost down. So a 3 bed villa is coming out as £163 per person (although that does include an extra night as its midweek not weekend).

BUT we could pay a lot more than that if we went for the same executive villa.

The easter price includes extra cost for a central location and maid service too. And we only booked it recently.

We bring our own food and eat in mostly which keeps costs dowb. We also choose the activities we will pay extra for carefully. You can go totally overboard eating out and booking so much extra stuff that you don't get to spend much time in the pool or cycling about the village.

What's the appeal? It's near by (less than 2 hours drive) with no airports to negotiate, no parking costs no delayed flights.
And we get to really relax by doing activities together, chilling out together as well as being active. The nature is right on your door step with squirrels running across the roof and ducks on the patio waiting to be fed.

Basically we find it fun, and really get to spend time together as a family while leaving the stress or work etc behind.

It's magical being woken up by ducks quacking outside your bedroom window hoping for some bread and having a deer run right past as the childrn feed the geese and watching the squirrels run up and down the trees (and in your lodge given half a chance).
We wear ourselves out cycling, swimming and doing various activities, and we sleep soundly having had a really busy day doing things we enjoy.

We love it, but if it's not your thing then you may not ever get it.

So go and try it, but don't ever pay top whack when you do!

You can book a cottage in e.g. the lakes for a fraction of the cost, still have the wildlife, the cycling etc, a wider range of restaurants and ad an added bonus not be surrounded by other families. I don't get CP at all, the real countryside is far more appealing

I go to CP with my parents because they like it and they invite us along. It costs £200 or thereabouts for a week for the 5 of us (parents, dh, dd and me). Off peak obviously and in March so it's nice and quiet. We take all our food with us and cook in the villa and we do only free stuff (walking, cycling, swimming, wildlife spotting etc) and we spent time together eating lots of lovely food and talking.

I wouldn't choose to go there if my parents didn't invite us to go with them but it's what you make it.

duckyfuzz I live in the 'real' countryside. No squirrel or duck is going to come near you for fear of being dinner. At CP you can walk 2 foot from a bunny and it won't bat an eye. One time we had a greenfinch which would fly around our villa tapping on all the windows hoping for some food and ds and friends dd where squealing with delight when the squirrels were running on and out of our villa and tehy were in hushed aww when a deer ran past them at not more than 10 foot away while they were feeding the geese outside our villa.
And in the spring you can walk past nesting geese and little balls of fluff are all around you and you don't need binoculars or to sit in a hide to see them. The memory of a cute moore hen chick running round his feet still has ds going aww to this day.

Plus my ds loves an active holiday. Being as we live in a rural location it's not easy to get to the kind of activities he can do at CP. We don't have a 'fun' pool anywhere close to us so he finds the pools amazing. And the climbing activities, boating etc...

As ds is an only child we quiet like having other families about that he can team up with other children to see how many times they can go down the rapids in a row etc. He's made some friends joining in team challenges and then met up with them later in the pool. We also can retire to our villa if we want quiet or join the the quizes and entertainment in the evening should we decde to do that instead.

Have to say it's a completely different experience for me now taking ds then it was when I went as a teenager with my parents. It's what you make it.
It's certainly not everyones thing. But I know lots of people who love it, including ds and myself!

We have gone but only when we booked last minute, and to the smaller CPs in Holland/Germany.

If you do that then you can get some great deals - we had a weekend in Germany for ?50 for a 6 bed villa, and Mo-Fri in Holland for ?150 for a 5 bed villa.

I would not pull full price.

How old are your DC? IMO CP is great for older children as there is a lot for them to do. With younger DC, you are better doing a weekend in a holiday home.

Well, I'm with the OP on this one. The idea of Centre Parcs is great, and I long to go, but whenever I've tried to book, the prices have been ridiculous. I'm sure you can get bargains off-peak, but if you have school age children, it's a rip-off. For example, a 3 night weekend over the easter holidays is £600 minimum for a 2 bed basic villa. For 3 nights!!! A week in the summer holidays, for the four of us, would cost well over £1000. Just for the accommodation. I'd love to go, especially at the moment, but there's no way we can pay those sort of prices.

I agree with it being good value if you can go off peak. We've just been for a four night break to Elvedon - lovely accommodation, swimming every day (the swimming pool is excellent - flumes, slides, waves, toddler area etc - and free) -for £279.

If you want the 'real' countryside, fair enough - but we find the slightly more organised CP atmosphere a bit easier with a toddler. Good parks, indoor play areas, activities on your doorstep, everyone totally geared up towards kids etc. Also, having everything within fairly easy reach is easier with a toddler. I know I keep using the word 'easy', but it does sum it up for me!

Finally, any holiday that includes an afternoon at a lovely spa for mummy is a winner for me!!!

www.centerparcs.co.uk/makeabooking/specialoffers/elveden_2011.jsp?tc=01EM020205010&sissr=1

You need to sign up for the special offers, like the above. And then work it to your advantage. So if your dc have a teacher training day tagged onto half term see if you can get that weekend at a lower price (sometimes you can).

Like I said, you can do it on the cheap if you are not worried about your dates or go for a long weekend. If you do look at school hols it will cost more, but you can still get deals (if you book way in advance or very last minute usually)

I just looked at Elvedon for the next 2 weekends (not school holidays). Nothing under £600.

Some schools have half term coming up in the next two weeks though, so techinically school hols and may be why it's more expensive.

They were fully booked when we went in January. I know because I checked to see if the price had reduced a couple of weeks before we went and there was nothing available at all. I found when we got there though that this was probably because some of the accomodation is being refubished so a whole section of chalets aren't available (and probably still aren't). That may be why the late availability is reduced/nil at present at Elvedon at any rate.

I booked it about 6 months in advance to get the low price in January. If you leave it till last minute you do take the risk re the price and availablity. If you're happy to go whenever though keep checking.

EG weekend of 16th sept is £319 at present for a 4 bed chalet at elvedon.

We have always gone using the teacher training days at beginning or end of the school holidays and it is much cheaper.

I like the fact that we don't need to use the car at all while we are there and that you get completely away from normal life! It is a bit weird, a very artificial world but I do find it relaxing.

I have recently been looking at summer holidays and have actually been amazed at how expensive cottage holidays are, up to £1000 for a week and that's with no amenities, just somewhere to stay.

Agree with thunderbird. With just me and ds a holiday cottage is completely out of our price range.

Holiday cottages in school holidays are not cheap plus you have to organise and find stuff to do.

If you can point me at a nice cottage that is less than £400, has a free fun pool and lots of activities within very close reach then I'll be hugely surprised. By the time I add in the cost of petrol to get too it (assuming it will be miles away) I am thinking CP will be comparable/cheaper.

In fact I calculated that our 'cheap' shared villas in France last year actually came out more expensive that CP by the time I factored in the travel, insurance, tunnel and everything else into it.
OP how much do you reckon your 2 week med holiday including villa, flights, insurance, car parking, car hire while there, activities etc will be in total? And for how many people is that?

With 1ds who desparately wants the company of other children and to be busy I honestly feel we'd both be bored to death with just a cottage to go too. If he wants a pool he can pop round to grandpa's any time for that. I can see that may be different if you have a partner and/or grandparents and/or more that one child to share your cottage with and to share the cost between. But when you go abroad and start factoring in the flights and insurance i can't belive it is cheaper than CP. Course you were looking at the tree house option which is aimed at people with more money than sense (imo!)

I did have a look at Forest Holidays, thinking that they would be much more reasonable priced, but I think they are very similarly priced to CP. Nice looking lodges, but very expensive - I think around £1500 for a week in the summer.

I find it hard to find anywhere reasonable priced in the school holidays, unless you just chance the weather and go for basic camping.

Just a comment re abroad - last year we flew to Portugal in August for less than £140 each, and hired a lovely apartment with large shared pool and gardens (about 12 other properties) for £650 per week. we got the bus to the airport (£3.50 each, ok we're lucky to live 20 mins from Stansted), and had a taxi at the other end, £20. Plus sunshine and blue skies every day, and a gorgeous beach a 5 min walk away. We didn;t need a car, walked everywhere. Whilst I can see the attraction of Centre Parcs, I still feel it is massively over-priced in school holidays, which is the only time we can go. I think charging over a grand for 'comfort' accommodation that sleeps 4 is taking the pxxx. We certainly can't justify that - and by the time you've paid for activities and food on top, you're talking about a lot of money.

We used to always hire a cottage in Devon/Cornwall in the summer hol, but like the other posters I found paying £600 upwards for a cottage in the middle of nowhere a bit steep - especially as the last two years we went it rained days out of 14. so we spent a fortune going into farms, parks, finding things to do.

I know there's the flight costs, but once we were away, we spent virtually nothing except food and drink.

Sorry, rained 11 days out of 14.

We love CP but would never pay the silly prices for the treehouse villas. We are lucky to have a different October half term to most people so we pay around £500 for a 2 or 3 bed woodland lodge for 4 nights. The main draw for us is the convenience of getting there and having everything on your doorstep when you get there, and the swimming complex which is fantastic especially at night.

Agree that you can find deals at CP but this is only the same as any other holiday you might go on. Go to Cornwall out of season and you will find deals then - go in August and its not so easy. My main objection to CP is the feeling of being over organised. I also don't like the idea of paying for extras once you are there. We went out of season to a major theme park - bit chilly and some rides shut but a fab time had by all. As for the "it's cheaper to go abroad" argument - sorry this just doesnt stack up! Look at any report on holidays over the last 5 years comparing UK to travelling away and all say it is cheaper here. Only two words about flying - carbon footprint! No point doing all that recycling if you then hop on a plane once a year for your hols - blows all of your good work out of the water!

We always use teacher training days that are tacked on to the end of holidays to do a weekend at CP. We have been going for 6 years. Used to go twice a year

This year our Easter Holidays are way out, we actually break up on Thursday 31st MARCH! Teacher training day on Friday 1st April so for a 2 bed exec villa with maid service etc is £300 for that weekend.

We like it because, we don't have to trek anywhere to find a restaurant and wonder what it will be like.

There are play areas in every restaurant so no gluing the children to their seats while we wait for food.

Swimming pool is fab and free (don't follow the you must only go after 2pm on your arrival day rule)

Play areas all over.

Nature on your patio, hand fed a squirrel at Elveden, as did Ds1 who was 5 at the time. Blew his mind.

The activities are all readily available and safe, although we don't do loads of them.

We eat out once a day, breakfast and dinner are in the villa to keep costs down.

It is relaxing, beautiful in parts, you can cycle and walk everywhere. We have been when the weather has been glorious, and in rain and snow! Went swimming at night, outside whilst it snowed on me, amazing.

It is over-priced but what holiday isn't. It is like Marmite, love it or hate it. We just happen to love it.

We used to go to Centre Parcs but it's so expensive and you have to pay for everything once you get there too! We go down to Cornwall now and stay at a family run farm (coombe Mill), which the kids love. There isn't a pool there, but we were so exhausted after a day on the farm we didnt have the time or energy to swim! Woodlands all around, so nice walks if you want to get out the farm, and beach pretty close too. Not dissimilar, but half the price!

Try Bluestone in Pembrokeshire. It is great, albeit hilly. We're off next month for a free 4 week stay but in September, in the last week of the school hols we paid £250 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath house which was very comfortable with stunning views.