When we booked our trip to Oasis I wasn’t convinced. The girlfriend wanted a weekend away. Great I thought - Amsterdam here we come, work had been tough and I felt I needed a bit of break. Ah but hang on a minute we want a weekend in this country and also on the cheap! There was something about the place that scared me – I had a horrible feeling she would have me traipsing around on Mountain Bikes 24 hours a day and hunting Squirrel’s to BBQ for tea. For some reason I also had that cheap advert for a soft drink going around in my head– ‘Oasis – open, pour, be yourself once more’. I guess I better explain what the Oasis Lakeland Forest Village (to give its correct name) is at this point as far as I understand it. Basically its a big glass thing just outside the Lake District (actually located near Penrith which is handy for the M6 and A66) in a forest where even if it rains (which lets be honest is going to happen a lot of the time) there is something to do – be it swim, soccer or squash. Accommodation is in forest ‘lodges’ which I presumed would be wooden shacks we would be pleased to even see a bed in. So far we had met the criteria that the weekend away was in this country – but what about cheap? Well actually Oasis isn’t that cheap. That’s if there are only a couple of you. We decided to hook up with a couple of married friends to come along with us also and with that we managed to book a 3 bedroom forest lodge –a room per couple and one spare for their kiddie. And so we arrived. Reception is a bit of a surprise – you drive your car into what looks like a big class car wash where you check in quickly and easy before parking up. Everyone has to wait until a certain time in the afternoon before they can drive around the large forest complex to there lodge to unpack – from a certain point no cars are allowed on site. This is good news as the thousands of people on mountain bikes (most of whom have never ridden one in their lives) zoom by you. On the mountain bike front one tip would be to bring your own – they aren’t that cheap to hire on site. Leaving the ladies to unpack friend and me decided to immediately check out the local amenities and it was to our surprise we accidentally stumbled across the Lakeside Inn. Set on the side of the central lake it’s the ideal spot for a quick drink after all the hard unpacking you should have done. Returning to the lodge I have to say they offer everything you want when you are stuck in the harsh wilderness – nice rooms, couple of bathrooms, BBQ outside and of course TV! Saturday saw the girls go for a beauty treatment, which they assured us, was worth every penny although it’s not for me to comment on the results. We then had a game of outdoor tennis in blazing sunshine before visiting the spiritual centre of the resort the big glass dome (known as the Butterfly Village Centre) containg the World of Water along with a supermarket, fast food joints (including a Burger King) and a Hard Rock café. The World of Water is pretty good, pretty great I would imagine if you were a kid. My only complaint would be that they should maybe knock the artificial temperature up another degree or two. Saturday night saw us throw an impromptu BBQ in our backyard which thanks to the supermarket curtailed the former worry of Squirrel hunting. Sunday’s weather proved that you do need the indoor entertainment (which includes everything from Ten Pin bowling to Scalextric competitions) as it snowed (yes) for a couple of hours. Sunday night saw us retire to the Hard Rock Café – yes I did say Hard Rock Café. This is the only one located outside of a major city in the world. As usual (and I wont do a separate review) the Hard Rock didn’t let us down on food or entertainment. And so to Monday morning and our trip was complete. Had the clean air and exercise invigorated me? Open, pour, I was myself once more.
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