I have been to Centre Parcs (SHERWOOD) a few times, and thought I'd share my experiences with this review. The last time I visited Centre Parcs was with my partner in February of this year - the only time I have ever been during the Winter months, but as it is both of our birthday's around January/February time, my partner took me as a birthday treat, and I have to say it was probably the best birthday present ever. We stayed in an 'Executive Lodge', which was a two-storey house, and were there from Friday morning - Monday afternoon.

ARRIVAL

When you arrive at Centre Parcs in Sherwood Forest, you are told you will not be able to enter your accomodation until around 3pm. I was slightly put out by this, as we had arrived at 10am, and would have to leave our car within one of their carparks (you are not allowed to drive around the actual Parc - you are only allowed to drive to your accomodation to drop off your cases etc). However we had thought ahead and had put swimming clothing in a seperate bag, and we decided we'd go to the swimming pool before going to explore our lodge! Be warned, during busy times the queue to get into the Parc can be quite long; however, I've personally never had to wait longer than 20 minutes or so to be admitted into the Parc.

THE ACCOMODATION

We were both more than pleased with our accomodation! We had booked to stay in an 'Executive Lodge', which was a two-storey house, with a kitchen, lounge, bedroom, bathroom, and a patio area outside with a BBQ (although we didn't venture outside to the patio at all, thanks to the cold weather!). There also seemed to be a lake in very close proximity to the house, however it was iced over at the time, and a little difficult to see through the trees which surrounded the lodge. The accomodation was clean, there was plenty of space for the two of us, and included a TV in the bedroom too, which we were pleased about. Towels and bed linen were provided, and we were told cleaners would come to clean the property each day. The lodge was plenty big enough for the two of us - obviously it would be a little more difficult if we had children, but the lodge we stayed in was specifically for two people. You can choose from:
(CHEAPEST TO MOST EXPENSIVE):

• Comfort Villa
• Comfort Villa Plus
• Woodland Lodge
• Original Style Executive Villa
• New Style Executive Lodge, and
• Exclusive Lodge.
  I have stayed in most of these in the past and can honestly say each has been clean and well presented, albeit some in need of modernisation! Our Executive Lodge meant we could park our car outside the lodge in a parking space, however we didn't know this until it was too late and we'd already left our car within the main carpark, but it was no big problem at all. There are bike racks outside of each house - I would strongly advise people to lock their bikes up wherever they leave them. I once stayed at Centre Parcs with my parents and the family in the house next door to us had their bikes stolen and were obviously quite upset at the loss of expensive bicycles. It is common sense to keep them locked up, but Centre Parcs appears such a friendly place (and it IS a friendly place) that you can sometimes forget to ensure your valuables are kept safe.

LOCATION OF HOUSES

Sherwood Forest is HUGE and this is one of the (possible) downsides to Centre Parcs! Thankfully our lodge was quite close to the 'Village Square' (the shops, restaurants and swimming pool), so on our bikes it took around 5 minutes to cycle down, which isn't long at all. However, there are houses all over the place, and some people may find they are a good 20 minute walk from the Village Square and it can be quite exhausting cycling up and down hills to get to where you want to go (especially with young children in tow). Houses are dotted all over the place but if you're fairly fit and you don't mind biking fair distances, it won't bother you at all. We found that cycling during cold weather and over icy flooring wasn't too pleasurable, but on previous visits to Centre Parcs it has been very enjoyable to cycle around the Parc, but it can be tiring.
Also, thanks to our lodge being placed right next to a lake, we were very close to wildlife! We were greeted each morning by large swans, ducks, squirrels, birds...they come quite close, too, and the Parc is full of wildlife, which was lovely. They would all come to our patio door in the morning expecting food!

== PRICES ==

Centre Parcs is quite expensive, particularly during school holidays (naturally, prices are always higher during these times!). As it was a present from my partner, I have no idea how much it cost to visit during February in our specific accomodation, but if you'd like to visit in September for a weekend, it's around £500 for 2 people in the very basic accomodation. The prices usually put customers off - there are thousands of families suffering the credit crunch in the UK right now, and for two adults with two children staying here for a week in basic accomodation will set them back around £850 (and that's in mid September). I think Centre Parcs is a fantastic place and I absolutely love it, but I do feel it's a little expensive when a family can book a 2 week holiday abroad these days for the same price (or cheaper). Still, there are promotional codes on the Internet occassionally, which help to deduct money off the price, and it is cheaper to visit during the Winter months, but you then have to also consider costs whilst you're there. Only the swimming pool and childrens' play areas are free - the other activities cost money, and eating out is also fairly expensive. We ate out almost every day and we ended up spending a few hundred on food alone whilst we were there.

HOW TO GET AROUND THE PARC

Bicycles are essential at Centre Parcs and although they are provided to hire (at a cost), it's best to take your own. They are easier to distinguish amongst other bikes and are a little more reliable, too! The good thing about Centre Parcs's bicycle hire is that you can hire bikes with seating for children on the back, which you may not already own and therefore will find useful. You really do need a bike as the Parc is so huge that if you want to explore, it would take you a long time to do so on foot! There are plenty of pathways which are strictly for pedestrians only, so you know your children are safe without fearing they will be knocked down by people coming through on bikes. There are also usually no cars; as I said at the start of the review, no cars are allowed in the Parc once unloading/reloading from houses has taken place, but during these days the roads through the Parc can get a little busy and therefore there are obvious risks of children being knocked down, however the speed limit is low and for the majority of the time you can relax knowing no cars are going to threaten your childrens' safety as they play.

ACTIVITIES

There are absolutely tonnes of activities to get involved in - nature trails, action challenges, horse riding, golf, tournaments, water sports, falconry, rally experiences, mountain bike trekking, tennis, etc. These activities can be expensive. There's also a Spa, which have many treatments on offer, and 'Jardin Des Sports', which is a large sports arena where you can rollerblade, play table tennis, etc. Due to it being Winter time, we were restricted to which activities we could participate in. We really wanted to have a go on 'The Gladiator Challenge', an outdoor assault course which cost around £30 each, but thanks to the poor weather conditions, the activity wasn't running. We played tennis, tabletennis, badminton, rollerblading, wall-climbing...there is plenty to do inside, so if the weather isn't great there's always activities going on indoors, although it was a little disappointing not to be able to use the outdoor equipment. I have never used the Spa before, but it looks beautiful and offers a range of reasonably priced treatments, with many offers and packages, e.g. 'Mother & Daughter', 'Expectant Mother's Treatment'. Personally, I wasn't sure I'd like to waste time within the Spa, as there's so much to do, but if you love spa treatments and nothing else is appealing to you, I'd definitely give it a try. My Mother and Auntie both use the Spa there regularly when they visit, and they absolutely love it.

THE SWIMMING POOL

Possibly the best part of Centre Parcs, but the queues are dreadful (more on that soon!). The changing rooms are spacious and clean, and there are hundreds of large lockers to keep your belongings in (for a deposit of £1). You can hire out (for free) float jackets for your young children, and armbands too (or you can purchase them). The swimming pool area is very warm, and there is ample seating space, although during busy times the seating areas become full and it's quite hard to find somewhere to sit down. However, there was enough space when we visited earlier this year, and there is also a restaurant serving hot food. I wasn't so sure about this - I didn't fancy the idea of children (and adults) bringing food near the pool or dropping bits into the water, but this didn't seem to occur and consequently wasn't a problem. We ate at this pool restaurant once (on the day we arrived), and the food was typical of a fast food restaurant, and I personally enjoyed it!
The pool itself is incredible; the best I've been in. The main pool is huge, with the shallow part mainly used by children, and the deeper part usually fairly empty but this is where the wave machine is and so therefore can become quite full every 20 minutes or so. There's also another childrens' pool, which is children-only, but most just do a bit of paddling/swimming in the shallow area of the main pool (it's a 'walk-in' pool, with no edges at the shallow end, so no fear of them slipping over an edge and falling in).
There are several hot tubs (which get busy quickly, adults only), and there are plenty of slides! None of the slides are particularly scary, they are average in speed but are a little dark in places, therefore my brother has never braved some of them! The best slide is a new addition which I believe was implemented only around 2 or 3 years ago - you sit inside a rubber ring (up to four of you in the ring) and are taken around the slide which even takes you outdoors. Some slides have height restrictions, but no slide is incredibly frightening or fast. My partner and I absolutely loved the slides, and went on them frequently, but the queues were a massive downside. The queues weren't so bad for the usual 'tube-style' slides, but for the rubber ring slide the queues were large, and we'd sometimes be stood waiting on stairs for around 25 minutes or so. It wasn't too bad for us, but some children were getting bored of waiting, and would end up shouting and crying through their boredom.
In all honesty, the staff were quite rude. They were around the age of 21 and just looked as though they couldn't be bothered, with no enthusiasm and couldn't-care-less attitude. Obviously it would be unfair to say ALL the pool staff were rude, but a lot of them were. I didn't need to have too many dealings with them, but they didn't seem to help/want to help people with their questions/comments.
The best part of the swimming pool for us was the rapids. There's an outdoor section of the swimming pool, and a huge rapid which sweeps you down a slide and around a 'track'. This isn't a ride as such, and there are no queues for it, and it's child friendly (the rapid isn't too fast), and we absolutely loved it. There's also a 'Cold Plunge' in the outdoor part, too, which is a small area where if you dare, you can jump in and be almost frozen to death thanks to the cold water! The water is actually not that cold in the 'Cold Plunge'; it's just made to feel colder thanks to the warm temperature of the main pool areas.
You will spend a lot of your time in the pool at Centre Parcs and it's definitely one of the main attractions of the Parc. It's large, fun, family-friendly, with a restaurant and plenty of rides. The only downside are the queues for the rubber ring ride and the unfriendliness and rudeness of (some) of the staff.

RESTAURANTS

There are plenty of restaurants to choose from when at Sherwood Centre Parcs. We chose to eat out at 'Strada', an Italian restaurant, and 'The Pancake House', where we ate more frequently! Here is a list of restaurants available:

• Strada
• Made
• The Pancake House
• Cafe Rouge
• The Conservatory
• Dining
• Foresters' Inn
• Hucks
• The Lagoon Bar
• Rajinda Pradesh
• Sports Cafe
• Starbucks

We also went to Starbucks a couple of times for hot drinks, but I must admit I never saw 'The Conservatory', 'Dining', or 'Foresters Inn'. Some listed above are just little drinks cafes, such as 'Made' and 'Sports Cafe', but they all appeared to be well-presented and the prices were quite similar. I have dined at 'Hucks' at Centre Parcs before, but we didn't visit there when we went last time, and decided to have an evening meal at Strada instead. The meal was lovely, although the waiter tried to sit us right next to the childrens' play area, so I quickly made him move us to a nicer table! We learned that you now should book your table BEFORE you even arrive at Centre Parcs, along with a deposit of around £10. I think this is probably due to the volume of people who turn up wanting to eat and are having to be turned away due to lack of tables. I think this is a good idea, but I also feel including more restaurants would be easier, as then people wouldn't have the fuss of having to book tables before even arriving at Centre Parcs, and would have a little more choice. The only restaurants I'd want to eat out at in the evening would be 'Hucks', 'Rajinda Pradesh' and 'Strada', and they aren't large restaurants.
We ate at 'The Pancake House' almost every day (!) to have lunch. The menu was very reasonably priced and you could choose from savoury and sweet pancakes (I always had the sweet ones!). It would get busy around lunchtime, but being two of us, we always managed to be seated.

THE VILLAGE SQUARE

There are a few shops in the 'Village Square', and here also houses some of the restaurants/cafes. The Supermarket (small) was perfect - it sold just about everything we needed, and we decided to eat our evening meal in our lodge once or twice, and managed to buy our ingredients from the supermarket. It also has a fresh bakery where we always bought a cake or biscuit, which we believed had been freshly made on the premises, but couldn't believe it when we walked through the supermarket 'Spar' around a month later and noticed the exact same cakes were for sale on the shelves there too! The supermarket also sells a range of DVDs, so you can always buy one to watch one evening if nothing else takes your fancy.
There's a toyshop, which stocks plenty of stuffed animals, games, stationary etc, and a shop which is more suited to gifts. There's also a sweet shop and a store outside the swimming pool which sells bikinis, goggles, pool toys etc. There's a shop which sells watches, and one which sells outdoor clothing. I thought there was a decent amount of shops within the 'Village Square' but you could also visit shops in 'Jardin Des Sports', which houses a few sportswear shops.

OVERALL

Overall, I absolutely love Centre Parcs. We had a fantastic time and are planning to go again soon! This was the first time I had been during Winter, and even though it was extremely cold, I think I may have preferred it to being there during Summer, purely because it looked beautiful covered in snow, and it felt lovely and cosy in our lodge despite it being freezing outside!

Good Points

• It's absolutely gorgeous in Sherwood Forest and with all the wildlife and nature everywhere, it's really beautiful.
• It's a place where you feel safe taking your children.
• There is a good selection of restaurants and cafes.
• Lots of shops, you can eat in your house by buying ingredients from the supermarket if you don't want to spend a lot of money eating out.
• Loads of activities to participate in.
• The swimming pool is fantastic and will provide hours of fun for everyone!
• Centre Parcs is enjoyable for people of all ages.
• It's great during all seasons.
• Accomodation is neat, tidy and clean.
• No cars are allowed on the roads, therefore makes it safer when you are walking around.
• You can choose which accomodation-type you wish to stay in (although there are some which are much more expensive than others!).
• You can't enter your accomodation until 3pm (although we risked it and went at 1pm and it had been cleaned and was ready for us).
• Even though you have to leave your accomodation by 10am on your day of departure, you can use the facilities for the rest of the day.

Bad Points

• It's a big place and therefore you need to cycle everywhere. If you aren't fit, you will probably struggle!
• It's expensive. Will cost around £1,000 for a family of four in basic accomodation for a week's stay (not even in peak time!). Will cost even more after eating out, activities, gifts etc.
• Bike Hire is quite pricey and the bikes are old and not very reliable.
• You have to leave your accomodation by 10am on your day of departure. I thought this was far too early! We usually woke up around 7.30am/8.30am each morning, but I felt 10am was much too early to have to leave the accomodation. We had to spend the evening before our departure day packing, when really we could have done that on our final day rather than rushing to get out.
• Some accomodation is just too far away from the 'Village Square' (main point). Young children will find it testing to have to cycle uphill all the time.

We both really love Centre Parcs and I have now enjoyed it as part of a couple as well as with my family a few years ago, and all experiences of staying at Centre Parcs have been wonderful. I would recommend it to absolutely everyone other than young people looking for anything along the lines of a clubbing holiday, as you won't find anything like that here! Thanks for reading.

Sonic4290