Centreparcs

[sunflower68]

Anyone been?  Is it as great as it sounds?  Value for money is important to me.  Please let me know opinions, good and bad.  Thanks.

[Jules001]

We've been to Centre parcs quite a few times, once to Sherwood Forest which we found really cold (weather wise) as it is further north, lots of Scots there who were saying how warm it was! We have also been to Elveden Forest loads of times (both before and after the fire). We like it because you can do as little or as much as you want. The activities are not included in the price, the only thing apart from accomodation included is use of the swimming pool. You do have to book activities in order to do them and you will find that the popular ones get booked up very quickly and they limit you to how far in advance you can book for things, so sometimes you can't always do something when you want to do it, but we generally plan a couple of days in advance and find that works ok. The villas are stone built and are quite cool, in winter you can have a fire going (we have only been in summer ). The villas are not too close to each other so some privacy is maintained, but be warned some of the villas are a long way from the Dome where the majority of the activites take place and you would need bikes or at Longleat take the Roadtrain to get to and from the Dome (a pain at night) Restaurants are ok and not too expensive generally about �50-60 for a family of 4 including wine.

[Jules001]

cont...
On site supermarket prices are a little more expensive than your local Tescos etc, but not a huge mark up. They don't have a problem with noise in the evenings as security guards patrol and I believe they limit same sex groups. Although they say that there are no cars allowed, on change over days vehicles are allowed access to load and unload luggage and then have to be removed to car park. We used to just not let our children cycle on their own on those days, but they are older now youngest is 13 so not so much of a problem, but just so that you are are aware. Even though Mr Jules doesn't like going on holiday to the same place twice, he enjoys going there and we have lots of good memories of our holidays there and wouldn't fail to recommend it. Watch out for the wildlife as some of it can be a bit too tame. I came out of the bathroom into the lounge area where Mr Jules was lying on the sofa reading to be confronted by 2 fully grown swans eating our grapes out of the fruit bowl. He was so engrossed in his book he hadn't noticed !

[Gevs1966]

Bloody expensive, it's cheaper to go abroad