Come and tell me about Centre Parcs!

[TheBreastmilksOnMe]

A large gang of my family and friends are thinking of going for a mid-week stay at the end of June but none of us have ever been to Centre Parcs before. Those of you who have been there before can you tell me about your experiences and whether you would recommend where you went and why?

We are thinking of hiring 2 accomodations with 6 adults and 3 children in one and 8 adults and 6 children in another. Is this madness or does it work somehow? Which activites should we book? We live in N.Wales so each of the 4 parks are about 4-5.5 hours drive away. TIA.

get a house in the centre
pay for that
toher wise its shit

Whinfell is supposed to be the best.
We(dh,dd1 & dd2)go every January(as prices are cheap).The swimming centre is fab,with lots of things for all ages,or you can just sit in a chair & chill out,plus its free,so you can go as many times as you like,the slides are great fun.
We have dones a few activities,tree-trekking - which is realy good,for ages above 8.The archery - my dd2(9) thought that was good & has done it 3 yrs running.We did the hawk walk,which you can take buggies on & the older ones get to fly a hawk-recommended.We have never done the watersports on offer there,as they aren't available when we go.
The restaurants are well-known chains and are quite pricey,though kids menus are on offer.
The staff are always very helpful too.
The whole thing is rather expensive when you add it all up,but we think it is worth it,we are always keen to go back every year.
We take pot luck with lodges as we enjoy the walk to & from the main centre.
Enjoy!!!

Wouldn't that mean it getting a bit noisy and busy? Is that what you did?

yes
tbh if you put center parcs into the search on here oyull get loads of info

We live near Nottingham so have only been to Sherwood (and the Netherlands).

It is expensive but you are guaranteed to find something for all ages even if the weather is awful.

We have been most years since having children. It's all very baby friendly, high chairs everywhere and even playpens around the pool. Also safe for older children to have a bit of freedom.

All the accommodation is arranged in such a way as it feels fairly private and is not noisy.

Pre-book as much as you can, you can do it all online. In particular the restaurants get very busy around 7 pm so unless you want to eat much earlier or later it's worth booking. The accommodation is fine if you want to eat in but I don't go on holiday to cook .

We always hire bikes to get around.

You don't need extra activities but over the years my boys, who are now 11 and 14, have tried all sorts. The highlight last year for them was laser combat in the woods.

I think the biggest accom they do is 4 bedrooms so you might not squeeze into two?

I remember when the Sherwood one was being built inthesticks! Big cross lit up at night when you drove past.

My view- bloomin expensive.

I agree expensive, but you get what you pay for.
5 star hotels are expensive and don't have as much to offer for children. Mind you, I wouldn't dream of going to CP without children.

True..but I can't aford 5star hotels either .

I have friends who went and they had a fab time, but had to pay extra for activities, which the kids obviously wanted to do.

Can you not all hire a big house for the week? You can get some lovely 'holiday' homes..but it depends what you want I suppose.

Thanks all your advice has been very useful I wasn't bargaining on it being so expensive with the cost of booking the activities in advance so back to the drawing board me thinks!

DH and I were looking at top end accommodation for a week in the summer.

£3500

Are you allowed that many adults and dcs per villa though?

Outside of school hols it isnt that expensive but they do have maximum occupancys...

I went to Whinfell last month as it was only £299 for a woodland style lodge for 4 adults and 2 children (although only 2 adults went- it was just cheaper to get a 3bed than a 2bed for some reason). It was a fantastic break. We didn't stay right in the centre- they said where we were staying was a 20 min walk- but it was 10 mins at the most. The swimming centre is great and we went everyday for at least 3hrs a day. You can get 'fast' style food in there for about the same price McDonalds and Burger King charge- but I saw quite a few people with there own sandwiches and flasks.

We took lots of dvds for the evenings as you get a dvd player in the main living room- this was great as our little one's don't like being kept up any later than 9pm. We bought a bag of logs for the fire (£10) which lasted 3 nights and had toasted marshmellows. We also used there take away delivery service as you can order italian, chinese and indian to your lodge which was great for the last night. The supermarket is normal price for most things but I found the alcohol expensive. We took a few bits such as bacon and Asda pizza's.

My 4yr old loved the children's disco which was free and I promised to take him to see the wizard of oz show but unfortunately this was booked out when I went to get the tickets so make sure you book things early. We didn't really do any of the activites- just pottered around swimming, relaxing and eating out. So we only spent about £150 in the 5 days we were there. My son doesn't use pushchair any more but we hired one of those little tykes cosy coupe cars with a handle for him for 3 days for about £15 I think- which saved his little legs and meant to we could get around faster.

I would definately go again as it was so hassle free compared to all the foreign holidays I've been on. We only live an 1hr and 30 away from Whinfell so it was great. Just wish it wasn't so expensive for the rest of the year.

mil is taking whole family for easter weeken
5 families
god I'd rather have the ££££