Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest

I have been to Center Parcs several times but hadn't been for a while and since my last visit it has altered a little but still just as much fun as I remembered it to be. I thought I should review it as people who have never been are always asking me what it's like and whether it's worth it.

The basic idea of Center Parcs is to have an active holiday where you try things you may never usually get round to doing without having to go ...
...We went to the Nottingham Center Parcs and we found that the directions on the website were fairly easy to follow and so we found it without too much of a problem. Once we'd turned into the park we then drove down the long driveway until we reached the queue. Because you can only check in on Fridays and Mondays there is always quite a large queue of cars with everyone arriving all at once. We didn't have to wait too long though, I would say no more ... more

I have been to Center Parcs several times but hadn't been for a while and since my last visit it has altered a little but still just as much fun as I remembered it to be. I thought I should review it as people who have never been are always asking me what it's like and whether it's worth it.

The basic idea of Center Parcs is to have an active holiday where you try things you may never usually get round to doing without having to go far. All of the attractions are very close together so you don't have to spend all day travelling from one to the next and so you can really soak up the family fun atmosphere.

I thought instead of reviewing everything individually I would review our entire holiday.

**Arrival**
We went to the Nottingham Center Parcs and we found that the directions on the website were fairly easy to follow and so we found it without too much of a problem. Once we'd turned into the park we then drove down the long driveway until we reached the queue. Because you can only check in on Fridays and Mondays there is always quite a large queue of cars with everyone arriving all at once. We didn't have to wait too long though, I would say no more than 10 minutes and then we pulled up the little kiosk to give our booking number.

The check-in took no time at all, we literally gave our number and our details came up on screen and our keys and map were handed to us. The lady on the desk was extremely friendly and offered to give us advice about our stay which we turned down as we had been previously. She was very helpful and polite.

We then drove down to the villa which was easily done as the signing was really good. Once there we unloaded the car and then took it back up to the carpark. This was quite a slow process with everyone doing the same thing all at once and so the road was quite busy with cars and with people carrying luggage around but all in all it was a good, fairly laid back experience.

**The villa**
We stayed in a comfort plus villa. This meant that we got towels in with the deal, a TV in one of the bedrooms and two toilets. There were 5 of us, plus a baby and a dog staying and we had 3 bedrooms. The villa was very clean although it did smell of dog which I guess can't be helped and is to be expected if you stay in a dog villa. The beds were all made, the bathroom was clean, I really couldn't fault the cleanliness at all.

We had to put the cot up ourselves which was a bit of a negative as it didn't come with instructions, nor with an explanation as to where it was! We just found it in the store cupboard and then spent a good 30 minutes putting it together, it didn't help that one of the pins had fallen out so it was very fiddly to do but we managed it!

The villa came with everything you could need including a DVD player and a CD player. The seating area was just about big enough for 6 which was fine for us as there were just 5 of us but i imagine if there were 6 of you you may use the dining room chairs too unless you all want to sit very squashed together!

The shower water would run cold if someone used the water elsewhere whilst you were in it which was very irritating but aside from that I can't thikn of any other negatives!

To look at they look quite unattractive- they are just cabin-like huts in the forest but they are very cleverly designed. They are all attached but at an angle so that you don't overlook anyone else and so that from the road the majority of the villas can't even be seen.

**Booking of activities**
Before we even arrived we had booked some activities. This is really easy to do as we did it online and it was very straight forward. This then meant that we didn't have to worry about availability of activities or wasting time queueing up at desks to put our names down. We just had to turn up, give our names and we were then let onto the court/pitch/room etc.

The activities we did book during the time there were all available. We booked a gane of bowling, a badminton match and a gym session and they were all available when we had requested which I thought was really efficient! I was expecting to have to compromise or maybe even miss out but we didn't at all so that was really good.

There is also the ability to book using the computer system there instead of speaking directly to someone, I didn't use this facility but I guess that's another way of cutting down time waiting in queues.

**The activities**
We did the following:
* Badminton
* Table Tennis
* Squash
* T'ai Chi
* Swimming
* Bowling

They were all available as we wanted them- we didn't have a problem with waiting for people to leave who had been on the court/lane etc before us and there were no issues with mixing up bookings or double booking, it all ran very smoothly which was great. All activities cost except for swimming so it did get quite expensive with bowling costing £25 for an hour.

I can't really find any faults for any of the activities we did at all except for maybe in Badminton it was quite frustrating when the players in the court next to ours managed to keep getting thier shuttle cock in our court which disrupted our game but that's to be expected!

**Swimming**
Swimming is free and is in the 'subtropical swimming paradise'. This really tries to recreate that abroad holiday inside the pool. They have lots of seats around the pools and palm trees and it's a really great fun, laid back atmosphere.

There are three baby pools, the main pool which has a wave machine, outside pool, the rapids, the cold plunge pool,jaquzzis, two slides and the rubber ring shoot. As well as these there are also extra activities which you have t pay for including sauna, steam room, massage treatments and turkish baths.

You can spend a good amount of your day inside this area. There is a pool side fast food place too which sells your usual kind of fried foods and drinks and alcoholic drinks too!

The changing rooms have lots of lockers and cubicles but I would say the amount of family changing cubicles is a bit poor but we managed okay and just had to wait around abit for one to come available for us.

There are lots of highchairs around too so you do feel as though you're being accomdated for if you have a child.

The main problem I had with the swimming pool was that the baby pool was really quite dirty, you could see bits of grit and soil and things in the bottom so it could have done with being cleaned out but aside from that no problems!

**Shops/Restaurants**
There are various shops and restaurants including the sweet shop, outdoor clothes, starbucks,pancake house, Indian, Italian and Chinese Restaurants, American Diner, A wine bar and several fast food joints throughout the place. They tend to get very booked up in the evenings and so it may we wise to book well in advance.

**Nightlife**
This holiday isn't about going out at night and clubbing but there is the option to go to teh sports bar which is open all day long and that has lots of entertainment and a club area at the back. They put on dance acts and various other entertainment in the evenings and the price of drinks isn't too steap, at least not compared to city centre prices anyway.

**Getting Around**
It is so easy to get around! The main way of doing so is by bike hire. This costs £20 a bike so is quite expensive once you add up everyones but it does make it so much faster to get around. There are many bike parks everywhere so it's easy to park and then go aruond the activities. Bike hire was really straight forward too, we didn't have to queue at all which we were shocked about! All villas have cycle racks outside for your bikes too. If you did chose to walk though then you wont have any problems as everywhere is very cleverly designed so you don't ever have to walk very far! It doesn't take long to get to one place from the next.

**Environment**
It's a fantastic environment to be in and even though you know you're surrounded by hundreds of other families you don't feel likeyou are as there is something calming and sedating about the forest. it seems to suck up the noise around you! It's fantastic. You can ride your bike up to the country club and see the different wildlife in the forest, you can sit by the man made lake and watch the birds, you can walk through the various little tracks in the woods. it is such a lovely and varied place to be.

**Extras**
Obviously I can't include everything in this review else it would go on for ages and you'd all fall asleep but other activities available include:
* Archery
* Paintballing
* Volleyball
* Line dancing
* Children's tennis class
* Soft ball
* Walk in the forest
* Family quiz
* Music classes
* Rollerblading

There is also a creche available for your children.

**How could it be improved**
Although I do really rate Center Parcs highly I would like to see a few improvements. I was disappointed to see that there were no activities for the under 12 months. It would have been nice to have had a baby class of some description whether it be yoga or sing and sign or whatever, it would have been nice for my baby to have had an activity to do too.

I would also like to see the prices be a little more fair or maybe have some offers on if you book over a certain amount. It does get extremely expensive!

**Price**
Okay so for our 3 night stay for 5 people, 1 baby and 1 dog it cost £600 for the accomdation alone. This to me is very expensive. Activities on top of that made us feel very poor! Bowling cost £25 for an hour. Badminton was £18 for 45 minutes. The gym was £5 a session. The meals were expensive too. It is definitely not a cheap holiday and you have to chose carefully which activities you want to do if you can't stretch to doing everything you want.

**In conclusion**
I would say that this is a great holiday. I found myself doing activities I wouldn't normally do- riding a bike being one! It gave me the chance to do things with family members that I wouldn't normally do either and it was really fun and competitive to get involved in tournaments with my family.

I felt as though I had had a really fullfilling few days and that it was worth the money. It isn't a holiday I could afford to do very often but I would definitely go back. 

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