Center Parcs Whinfell

[BettyYeti1]

Fancied a trip to the Lake District and wondering about CP Whinfell. Is it worth going there and using as a base for a few days? Would be outwith school holidays. Want to explore some of the lakes and surrounding areas. So would plan to be out and about most of the day and then come back to CP for tea and maybe swim in the evening (seeing as it's included in the price!)

Is it worth it if not going to do many of the activities onsite? Do they even let you leave? 😂

Oooh, hope you've had a great week..nothing like a bit of insider info!!!! 😊

How much was say the ball wall thing, climbing wall, boats on the lake? It's annoying you can't see prices until you book. Is there evening entertainment like kids disco etc? What are the quietest times of day for the swimming?

Good luck with queue getting out today!!!!

@BettyYeti1 We’ve had the best time thanks 😊

Family Ball wall - £21.50 for 45 mins 😊 you just pay for the court, not per person

Climbing - £20 each for 55 mins

Electric 4 seater boat - £27 for 30 mins (there are bigger 6 seaters too, as well as pedalos/kayaks etc which are all different prices)

Pottery was £6 per person to book, and then you pay for what you paint 😊

There is a kids disco, although we didn’t visit it this time. I believe it’s 6-8pm or 6-9pm in the bar beside the bowling and swimming etc 😊 On everyday except Monday & Fri 😊

Swimming seems to be quieter in the evenings - I’m assuming this is due to lots of families with young children being here at the moment. May be different during school holidays 😊 we’ve swam at various times this week and it’s been busy but never too chaotic to be honest 😊

Brilliant, this is is hugely helpful! Do you need to book all these things in advance, Inc swimming slots?

@BettyYeti1 Swimming doesnt have to be booked in advance 😊 everything else does. We booked a few things in advance of arriving and have booked a few others on the app while we’ve been here and there’s been plenty of availability 😊

Great, thank you again!

Which restaurants are good value, and which are best avoided? Any recommendations?

No definitely not. It's not impossible to get off the parks but a lot of the lodges are at least a ten minute walk to your car. Then you have to drive 5 minutes to get off the park. Then you've got to drive to whatever local beauty spot you want to explore. CP isn't that close to any particular tourist hot spots. Much better self catering places available that will give you a better feel for being in the lakes and a better Base for exploring.

I wouldn’t go to CP as a base - if you have kids they’ll enjoy the CP break and are unlikely to want to leave - it’s a waste of money doing that in my opinion. Just buy into the CP experience if you’re going there.

It’s a pain to get into the lakes from there if you want to walk. Probably no more expensive to be in Keswick or Ambleside.

I wouldn't go to any centre parcs to just use it as a base for going out and about to be honest. It's more expensive than self catering Airbnb or cottages. You can get some lovely cottages with hot tubs for significantly cheaper than centre parcs.

Depends if you want the activities centre parcs offers. We do it every year (a different site each year) mainly because of the pool. We spend most mornings and afternoons in the pool. We don't do many additional activities - 1 each for the kids in a 4 day stay and one lunch/dinner out.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really rate any of the restaurants – there is Bella Italia, Hucks is an American diner and then there’s a pub. The one to definitely avoid is Dexter‘s which is just as you go into the pool – that is overpriced and rubbish! Before I go I just buy some luxury easy to prepare food which we can heat up in the lodge with a bottle of wine! Considerably cheaper and much nicer food. If you don’t want to take food with you, you are quite near both Cranstons and Booths which are lovely as well as Sainsbury’s and Aldi – all in Penrith.

We love centreparcs but I wouldn't use it as a base if you're spending a lot of time offsite. We go because of the pool and we can take the dog.
Nearest lodges to the car park are three oaks and Beachwood area. We stayed 25 three oaks and it was under 5 mins to get the car. They are changing the closing time of the pool too in October so I think it will shut at 8pm so depending what time you come back from your day trip, you might not have much time to use it. The activities vary in price, seems to be dynamic pricing. We paid £35 for boating in the lake in July. I've got older kids and the activities they wanted to do were all £40+ each.

@BettyYeti1 I agree with @BeautifulTulips on this one 😊 most of the restaurants are fine but nothing special at all. And you’re paying top prices, there are no offers on like the 2 course menus etc that places like Bella Italia may offer outwith Center Parcs.

The exception I would say would be the pub - The Lakeside Inn 😊 Tuesday nights and Sundays they have a carvery as well as their normal full menu and the carvery has been lovely every time we’ve been 😊 it’s the one meal we always have out ☺️
This week we had 4 adult carvery + dessert, 1 kids carvery + dessert, 1 round of soft drinks for adults and a kids juice and it came to just under £150 including service.

A few of us had a quick lunch at the Sports Cafe before heading home. Food was nice but nothing special:
2 adults hot sandwiches with fries, 1 kids sandwich, 2 soft drinks and kids juice was just under £50.

We usually just self cater and have our one meal out at the Carvery 😊

Has anyone been to the Whinfell Forest kids disco recently? Do you need to book and what kind of music do they play?

Also, are the family quiz nights still running?

Thanks ☺️